The Egyptian and Kenyan presidents discuss the situation in the Horn of Africa and the Nile Basin regions, and the Sudanese crisis

Nairobi – Cairo – Amr Abdulrahman

Today, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi met with President of the Republic of Kenya, William Ruto, in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on the sidelines of the President’s participation in the 5th Mid-Year Coordination Meeting of the African Union.

Spokesman for the Presidency, Counselor Ahmed Fahmy, stated that the President of Kenya welcomed President El-Sisi’s visit to Nairobi, valuing the robust friendship and brotherly bonds the two countries share. The Kenyan President expressed huge appreciation for Egypt,  its people, and leadership. He underscored the broad prospects for further advancing relations and fostering closer joint cooperation between Egypt and Kenya. President Ruto also highlighted the prospects for strengthening joint African action so as to contribute to achieving the coveted sustainable development for the continent’s states and peoples and stimulate efforts toward achieving continental integration at all levels.

President El-Sisi emphasized the outstanding bilateral relations Egypt shares with Kenya. The President confirmed the importance he placed on coordinating and consulting with his brother the President of Kenya on African issues so as to further advance efforts toward integration and preserving peace and security, and to enhance the development agenda in the African continent. This was demonstrated in the intensive engagement and bilateral meetings held between the two Presidents over the past period, the latest of which was their encounter last month at the COMESA summit in Zambia and their meeting at “The Summit for a New Global Financing Pact” in  Paris.

The meeting tackled ways to cultivate closer bilateral relations, and discussed a number of regional and continental issues. Those included the situation in the Horn of Africa and Nile Basin regions and the Sudanese crisis. The two Presidents reviewed efforts to coordinate initiatives aimed at settling the crisis, including the initiative emanating from Sudan’s Neighboring Countries Summit which was held in Egypt on July 13. This initiative integrates with other regional endeavors aimed at ending the conflict and heading to peaceful negotiations to achieve the interests of the brotherly Sudanese people.