United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (L) meets with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo, Egypt, on April 3, 2019. Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi on Wednesday held talks with visiting UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres over various regional issues and ongoing efforts to combat terrorism. (Xinhua/MENA)
CAIRO, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi on Wednesday held talks with visiting UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres over various regional issues and ongoing efforts to combat terrorism.
Sisi and Guterres discussed the recent developments in the Middle East region, particularly in turmoil-stricken Libya, Syria and Yemen, said Egypt's presidential spokesman Bassam Rady in a statement.
"The UN official reviewed the UN efforts to reach political settlement to these regional issues, noting the UN keenness on enhancing cooperation with Egypt to safeguard peace and security in the Middle East region," Rady added.
Sisi reiterated Egypt's fixed policies and positions on such regional crises, which are based on maintaining the unity and integrity of states and supporting their national institutions.
With regards to the decades-long Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Egyptian president expressed his country's support for the UN efforts and relevant international initiatives to reach a just and comprehensive settlement for the major issue.
The meeting was attended by Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and head of the General Intelligence Service Abbas Kamel.
Guterres is scheduled to fly to Libya following his visit to the Egyptian capital Cairo, ahead of a UN-sponsored national conference that seeks to pave the way for elections to help end years of chaos in Libya.
At a press conference with Shoukry following the meeting, Guterres stressed the necessity of unifying Libyan institutions "to avoid any major confrontation and to create the conditions to stabilize the situation in Libya."
"I have just arrived in Libya, totally committed to support a Libyan-led political process leading to peace, stability, democracy and prosperity for the Libyan people," Guterres tweeted on Wednesday evening.
