President Morsi to visit Germany January 30

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi is to visit Germany on January 30, the official news agency MENA reported on Thursday, quoting a presidential spokesman. Morsi is to make the trip at the invitation of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the spokesman, Yasser Ali, said. The visit was announced after a month of political turmoil in Egypt over a new constitution the Islamist president had adopted despite opposition protests and street clashes. It will be Morsi's second trip to Europe as president after one in September to Belgium and Italy to drum up badly needed aid and investment in Egypt's struggling economy. He will precede his flight to Germany with a visit to Tunisia to commemorate that country's second anniversary of its revolution, which started the 2011 Arab Spring that spread to Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Syria. Morsi was elected president of Egypt in June this year, taking over from an interim military administration that ruled since the February 2011 overthrow of Hosni Mubarak, who had ruled the country for three decades.