Egypt's Sisi heads to the UN for first official visit to the US
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi travelled to New York on Sunday for his maiden visit to the US, during which he will attend the 69th Session of the UN General Assembly.
According to a diplomatic source, Sisi will deliver the Arab group’s statement during the UN climate summit on Tuesday.
The speech will "express the developing nations' demand for technical and financial support from the major industrial powers to help the former upgrade their industrial and development potentials," an unnamed source told Anadolu Agency.
"The demand stems from the fact that the developing nations bear the brunt of increasing pollution levels that had consequently exacerbated the problem of climate change," the source added.
The Egyptian president will also address the General Assembly whilst in New York.
Sisi will "review the progress made in the process towards the establishment of democracy and modern state in Egypt" in a speech that comes 14 months after he unseated the country’s first freely elected president Mohammed Morsi in a popularly backed military coup.
Fighting terror and extremism will feature high in Sisi's address, the source added.
This is Sisi’ first official visit to the US as Egypt’s president since he won controversial May elections.
AA reported that “some opposition groups” have announced plans to protest Sisi’s visit, without naming the movements involved. The Turkish news agency said the protests will be against the president’s overseeing of a deadly crackdown on dissent – Egypt has some 40,000 political prisoners according to monitoring group Wikithawra.
However, a group representing the Egyptian diaspora in New York have planned a welcome for Sisi to show support for the president against a “sinister plot to spoil Egyptians’ joy with the visit.”
Back in Cairo a bomb exploded outside the foreign ministry on Sunday killing at least one police officer and leaving an unknown number injured.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Social media users speculated that many had expected violence at home while the president made his trip to the US.
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