President El-Sisi Participates in the Press Conference of the V4 + Egypt Summit

In the Hungarian capital, Budapest, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi participated this morning in the second Egypt-Visegrad Group summit. The V4 groups Hungary, Poland the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

The Spokesman for the Egyptian Presidency said that at the beginning of the summit’s sessions, the President extended his gratitude and appreciation to Hungary for hosting the Egypt-Visegrad Group summit for the second consecutive time. He stressed that Egypt is interested in the periodic convening of this presidential forum to contribute to promoting coordination and cooperation between Egypt and this important European grouping.

For their part, V4 Heads of State welcomed President El-Sisi. They confirmed keenness on listening to the President’s visions with regard to the situation in the Middle East, given Egypt’s vital role, under President El-Sisi leadership, in efforts toward the stability of the region and North Africa and the security of the entire region.

President El-Sisi tackled developments in the Middle East and the numerous challenges besetting it, primarily crises in a number of the region’s countries and the collapse of the nation-state concept. This is in addition to the weakness of the conflict-hit countries’ institutions, which imposes the need to exert utmost efforts to end this situation, reinforce security and stability and seek political solutions to these crises.

President El-Sisi asserted that the prime challenge facing the region, as well as Africa, is the threat of terrorism, which jeopardizes the countries’ resources and the security of their peoples. The President confirmed that Egypt has succeeded to a great extent to counter and contain it by adopting a comprehensive and integrated approach that is not only limited to security confrontations, but also encompasses social, developmental, and cultural dimensions. President El-Sisi stressed that this national approach still needs the support of sincere, international efforts to strengthen it.

The President also confirmed that in parallel with combating terrorism and the destabilization resulting from it, waves of illegitimate immigration emerge against the backdrop of economic deterioration and instigation of internal conflicts in countries like Libya, Syria, Iraq and Yemen as a result of intervention at the hands of some countries in the region in their internal affairs and the pitting of different identities against each other by harnessing differences in religion, doctrine, or race, resulting in waves of displacement and asylum-seeking. The President stressed that effectively confronting illegitimate immigration requires addressing its roots and causes before its symptoms, at the forefront of which is settling regional crises and firmly and clearly confronting the attempts of some countries to exploit these crises, in order for the nation-state and its institutions to regain control in these countries. This requires a strong position from various countries and entities, including the European Union, in spite of Egypt’s successful efforts, more than others’, in putting an end to illegitimate immigration across our maritime borders since 2016.

With regard to extremism, the President explained that it is the result of the misinterpretation of the true principles and values of religion, which are based on diversity, acceptance of the other and the pursuit of welfare of all.

The Visegrad leaders affirmed that they hold in high esteem the President’s efforts in leading Egypt by adopting balanced and unwavering policies. This reflected on the great successes of eliminating terrorism in Egypt and halting the waves of illegal migration, which are issues of huge interest to Europe. They confirmed that they would exert efforts within the European Union to clarify Egypt’s endeavors, under the President’s leadership, in this context to further clarify the conditions in Egypt and support its approach in addressing all relevant issues as well as its immense development efforts to raise the citizens’ living conditions and services.

In this context, President El-Sisi confirmed that Egypt looked forward to more cooperation with the V4 countries to transfer experience and technology, localize industry and cooperate in the fields of education, training and universities in Egypt. This is while taking into account Egypt’s modern infrastructure, which is the basis for the success of any joint cooperation. The President added that Egypt grows and advances at unprecedented rates in its modern history, given the magnitude of accumulated challenges and limited resources.