Sisi to start official visit to Hungary Sunday

CAIRO – 1 July 2017: President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi will start on Sunday a three-day official visit to Hungary at the invitation of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to participate in the Visegrad Group summit.

The Visegrad Group comprises Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary.

President Sisi’s visit has two main objectives; the first of which is to attend the Visegrad Group summit which will be held for the first time in the presence of a Middle Eastern or African country, presidential spokesman Alaa Youssef said in a Saturday statement.

The second objective of the visit is to promote bilateral cooperation between Cairo and Budapest, he added.

An Egyptian-Hungarian summit will be held on Monday between President Sisi and Hungarian Premier Viktor Orban, during which they will discuss the development achieved in bilateral relations over the past period as well as means of boosting them at the economic, political and cultural levels.

The summit will be followed by a joint press conference at the Hungarian Cabinet’s headquarters, the spokesman said.

The two sides will also touch on cooperation in the transportation field, particularly with regard to upgrading the Egyptian railways, Youssef said, noting that Minister of Transport Hesham Arafat will be accompanying Sisi during the visit.

Cairo and Budapest are keen to foster relations to a large extent, he went on to say.

On that score, the spokesman pointed out that Sisi’s visit to Hungary is the second of its kind in two years, while Orban visited Cairo last year.

The two visits were very successful and fruitful, he added.

The Visegrad Group is a major industrial base that Egypt seeks to benefit from through luring new investments and tourists, Youssef further noted.

President Sisi is also scheduled to meet with Hungary’s president and parliament speaker