US Secretary of State John Kerry will pay a brief visit to Cairo on Wednesday, during which he will meet with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi
The two officials will "discuss a range of bilateral US and Egypt issues as well as regional issues. And there’s plenty on that plate to talk about,” according to remarks by Department of State Spokesperson John Kirby.
The secretary of state, according to Kirby, “has talked about the importance of Egypt in the region. He’s talked about the importance of our relationship with Egypt and looking for ways to keep that relationship vibrant and healthy.”
Kirby indicated, “the growing threat of terrorism that Egyptians are facing, as well as a spate of other political, economic and security challenges inside the country itself.” He added that there are a lot of issues that need to be discussed with Egyptian leaders and that Kerry looks forward to continuing their dialogue.
Kerry’s meeting with Sisi is the second in less than a month.
On Friday, Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met with Kerry in Washington DC for discussions on regional and security issues.
Asked about their meeting, Kirby said, “They discussed a wide range of issues, as you might expect they would. There hasn’t been a meeting that we’ve had with Egyptian officials in many months where we did not raise our concerns over human rights, and the meeting last week with Foreign Minister Shoukry was no exception to that.”
Edited translation from MENA
