MENA – President Abdel Fattah El Sisi lauded historic relations binding Egypt with Portugal, saying these relations set a model to be always proud of.
At a press conference with his Portuguese counterpart Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, Sisi welcomed the Portuguese leader, who is on his first official visit to Egypt.
He termed as profound talks with the Portuguese president, saying they touched on many spheres of cooperation.
Sisi said they reviewed what was implemented from the results of his Lisbon visit in November of 2016.
Talks also tackled the outcome of an Egyptian-Portuguese committee meeting that was held at the ministerial level in Cairo in October of 2017, Sisi said.
President Sisi praised remarkable progress in cooperation between Egypt and Portugal over the past period, saying they help achieve mutual interests of the two peoples.
He said he agreed with the Portuguese leader to maintain close cooperation to optimize available opportunities and potentials.
They also agreed to activate agreements and memos of understanding to develop partnership and increase trade exchange and investments in different domains.
President Sisi said regional and international circumstances and geographic closeness between Egypt and Portugal require more cooperation and coordination to address current serious and complicated challenges and threats that cannot be faced separately like terrorism, organized crime and illegal migration .
He said some parties are fueling armed conflicts and civil wars in the region to undermine national institutions and carry out their ideological agendas .
He added that his talks with the Portuguese president covered the situation in Libya and Syria and efforts to fight terrorism and dry up its funding sources .
Sisi said Egypt is adopting an anti-terrorism strategy based on addressing its security, economic and cultural roots .
At the end, Sisi expressed appreciation for Portugal’s support of Egypt.
