Sisi meets with World Economic Forum officials

Presidential frontrunner Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi met with officials from the World Economic Forum (WEF) this week, although it was unclear in what capacity the former army chief held the meeting, reported the state-owned Middle East News Agency (MENA).

Philipp Rösler, former German vice-chancellor and minister of economics and technology, is visiting Cairo this week to discuss holding a WEF meeting in Egypt after the presidential elections, which are slated to start in a first round of voting on May 26-27.

The WEF is a nonprofit foundation that holds annual meetings in the Swiss city of Davos to bring together business and political leaders from around the world, with a handful of regional conferences organized throughout the year.

Rösler, who stepped up as the WEF’s managing director in January, reportedly invited Sisi to next year’s conference. The organization has a strong interest in Egypt and North Africa, he said, adding that the region’s problems can’t be addressed without first restoring Egypt’s political and economic stability.

Sisi responded by stressing the importance of these international forums as a vehicle to convey the truth of the current situation in Egypt and the Arab world, according to MENA.

The international community must pay attention to what happens in the Middle East to mitigate the spread of extremism, which has become a real threat to regional security and stability, Sisi asserted.

At the height of the global financial crisis, Egypt hosted a WEF meeting in 2008 in Sharm el-Sheikh. Former President Hosni Mubarak, ex-US President George W. Bush, Jordan’s King Abdullah II and former International Atomic Energy Agency chief — and subsequent opposition figure — Mohamed ElBaradei were in attendance.

The Red Sea resort town previously hosted a WEF meeting in 2006, just a month after a bombing in the nearby town of Dahab.

Jordan usually alternates hosting the regional meetings.

MENA quoted Sisi as saying that the Middle East needs real and broad support in the forthcoming period in order to confront recurring crises stemming from a lack of resources.