El Sisi in Munich for security forum, Egypt plans African reconstruction center

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi attended over the weekend the three-day Munich Security Conference, according to an Ittihadiya statement. Some 35 other world leaders were in the German city for the event, which kicked off Thursday and covered the future of arms control and defense policy cooperation as well as trade, climate change, and international security.

Key takeaways from the conference:

Cairo will be home to a center to support African reconstruction and development, El Sisi said in a meeting organized by Munich-based political strategy consultancy Agora Strategy on the sidelines of the forum. The planned center will function as “a tool to help African states recovering from internal strife and armed conflict.”

El Sisi met with senior German business leaders to promote investment, Ittihadiya said in a statement. The president held a working lunch with Germany’s Economy and Energy Minister Peter Altmaier and senior execs from blue-chip German corporates including Mercedes-Benz, Allianz, BMW, Volkswagen, Airbus, Siemens, SAP, Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank and the Federation of German Industries.

Among the president’s other meetings of note were discussions on:

• Tourism with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko;
• Automotive manufacturing with BMW Chairman Harald Krüger;
• Cyber security with Rohde and Schwarz COO Peter Riedel;
• Illegal migration and terrorism with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid.