PRESS RELEASE: President of UN General Assembly meets with Egyptian President

PRESS RELEASE

 

President of UN General Assembly meets with Egyptian President

 

Cairo, 1 April 2017 – On the last stop of his visit to Africa, the President of the General Assembly, H.E. Peter Thomson, spent today in official talks in Cairo, Egypt, where he promoted the priorities of the UN General Assembly’s 71st Session.

In his meeting this morning with H.E. Abdul Fattah Al Sisi, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, President Thomson thanked Egypt for its longstanding contributions to the United Nations. He highlighted Egypt’s leading role in UN peacekeeping, in the work of the General Assembly, the Human Rights Council, and through its current membership of the Security Council.

The Presidents’ discussions emphasized strengthening global action on countering the scourge of terrorism, stressing that much more has to be done by the international community to tackle the use of social media by terrorist groups in spreading their extremist messages of hatred and recruitment.

They discussed current regional issues, including the state of play of the various peace processes.  President Thomson also underlined the importance of strengthening cooperation between the United Nations and the African Union to achieve peace and security objectives, by bringing their comparative advantages into play in Africa in order to “silence the guns by 2020”.

He commended Egypt for its hosting of such large numbers of refugees and recalled that South-South migration was now more predominant than South-North migration. President Thomson underscored the need for greater support for international efforts to address global trends of migration in a more coordinated and positive manner.

The President of the General Assembly also met today with the Grand Imam of al-Azhar, Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, with their discussions focusing on inter-faith dialogue, the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, and countering radicalization and recruitment by extremist groups through the use of social media. The President also toured the Al-Azhar Observatory, after which he commended the on-line work being done by Al-Azhar to fight terrorism by countering the social media messages of extremist groups.

The President met with the Deputy Speaker at the Egyptian Parliament, El Said El Sherif, wherein they briefed each other on the activities of their respective institutions. He then delivered a keynote address on the subject of synergies between sustaining peace and sustainable development at the Egyptian Diplomatic Club, attended by the diplomatic community of Cairo. The luncheon was by hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs, and the Cairo Centre for Conflict Resolution & Peacekeeping in Africa.

Following media interviews, President Thomson then held an interactive meeting with the UN Country Team and Regional Offices, with discussions focusing on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

 

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