Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el Sisi opened the first-ever EU-Arab League Summit with a call for tougher action against terrorism. “The danger of terrorism has spread across the whole world like a pernicious plague,” he told European and Arab leaders gathering in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el Sheikh. “Today we badly need to assert our cooperation against this danger and stand united against this plague, which cannot be justified under any name,” he added.
Delegated by His Majesty Sultan Qaboos, His Highness Sayyid Asaad bin Tareq al Said, Deputy Prime Minister for International Relations and Cooperation Affairs and Personal Representative of His Majesty the Sultan, is attending the summit.
Prior to the summit, President Sisi received HH Sayyid Asaad, who conveyed greetings of His Majesty the Sultan along with his best wishes of permanent health and happiness to President Sisi, and the brotherly Egyptian people further progress
and growth.
Sisi asked HH Sayyid Asaad to convey his greetings and best wishes of good health, well-being and long life to His Majesty the Sultan, and the Omani people further progress and welfare under His Majesty’s wise leadership.
During the meeting, strong historic relations and avenues of the bilateral cooperation between the two brotherly countries were reviewed, in addition to discussing several regional and international situations. Issues of common concern were also discussed.
The meeting was attended from the Omani side by Sayyid Badr bin Hamad al Busaidy, Secretary-General of the Foreign Ministry, Dr Ahmed bin Mohammed al Futaisi, Minister of Transport and Communications, Dr Fuad bin Jaafar al Sajwani, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Dr Ali bin Ahmed al Issa’ee, Sultanate’s Ambassador to Egypt, its Permanent Delegate to the Arab League, and others.
Topics on the agenda of the summit include terrorism, European concerns about migration from Africa and the Middle East, and Arab countries’ hopes for increased investment.
Sisi also suggested European-Arab cooperation in what he called “safe” migration.
“Cooperation is necessary between the two regions to secure safe and legal migration in a way that will fulfil several joint interests. This should go hand in hand with combating human trafficking as part of efforts to combat cross-border crime,” he added. Migration was also featured in an address by Donald Tusk, the head of the European Council. — Agencies
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