• 07:34
  • Wednesday ,31 December 2014
العربية

Sisi to visit Kuwait, Bahrain, UAE and Ethiopia in January

By Aswat Masriya

Home News

00:12

Wednesday ,31 December 2014

Sisi to visit Kuwait, Bahrain, UAE and Ethiopia in January

In the second part of his interview with state-owned newspapers, Al-Ahram, Al-Akhbar and Gomhouria, published on Tuesday, President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi revealed that he would visit Kuwait, Bahrain, UAE and Ethiopia in January.

The Egyptian president also stated that there had been positive steps when it comes to Egyptian-Ethiopian relations.

The talks between the two countries over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam will continue at a summit between the Ethiopian president and Sisi in Addis Ababa by the end of January.

"We sent to the Ethiopians our suggestions regarding the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam's technical committee and they sent to us the draft of their suggestions regarding the committee," Sisi said.

"All that we are asking for is to turn the Ethiopian verbal assurances that the dam won't affect Egypt's Nile share into a document binding on both parties: Egypt and Ethiopia," he added.

Sisi also revealed that the Russian president and Japanese prime minister are going to visit Egypt in January.

Commenting on the recent Egyptian-Qatari reconciliation, Sisi said that he appreciated Saudi efforts on the matter.

Regarding the Syrian conflict, Sisi said Egypt had contacts with both the Assad regime and the opposition. He also proposed that Egypt could call both the regime and Syrian opposition factions for a dialogue in Cairo. 

Sisi said he expected parliamentary elections and the economic donors conference will be held in Egypt before March. Asked about the debate about the electoral constituencies law, especially because several political parties expressed their concern that it could be unconstitutional and that the constitution should be amended, the president ruled out any amendments.

"We have just issued the constitution, now we will demand to amend it!? I hope that we accept all the steps taken currently even if we are not satisfied 100 percent about those steps, we just need to move forward in the roadmap," he said.

Concerning the fear that the Muslim Brotherhood will return to parliament, Sisi expressed his confidence that the people of Egypt won't let this happen.

The Muslim Brotherhood was designated as a terrorist organisation last December while its political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party, was disbanded in August. In the parliamentary elections of 2011, the Freedom and Justice Party won 47.2 percent of the seats.