Egypt is seeking to benefit from the Singaporean expertise in port management and operation, water desalination, technical education and training and transport, President Abdel Fattah El Sisi said.

During a meeting with visiting Singaporean President Tony Tan on Monday, Sisi said the visit is a new and important step in promoting Egyptian-Singaporean relations, especially that it coincides with the 50th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations, presidential spokesman Alaa Youssef said.

Sisi said Singapore is a distinguished model of economic and social development, noting that work is needed to increase the volume of trade exchange and investments between the two countries as they are not at the same level with political ties, the spokesman said.

The Egyptian president reviewed Egypt’s efforts to achieve economic development, including ongoing national projects, mainly the development project in the Suez Canal region as it provides promising economic opportunities to Singaporean companies.

For his part, the Singaporean president said he was happy to visit Cairo as his first official visit to the Middle East since he assumed office, adding that Egypt was one of the first countries to recognize Singapore’s independence.

He said he realized the development the country has witnessed since his first visit in 2005 when he was deputy prime minister.

The Singaporean leader hailed the Egyptian leadership's steps to back stability, achieve economic development and attract foreign investments in light of the challenges the country has been going through in the past years, the spokesman added.

He agreed with Sisi on the importance of promoting trade and investment ties, saying that he was keen to have a business delegation in his company during the visit to get acquainted with investment opportunities available in Egypt.

He praised Egypt for hosting hundreds of Singaporean students receiving education at Al Azhar, saying that all Islamic leaders in Singapore are Al Azhar graduates.

He also shed light on the terrorism and extremism combat file, saying that cooperation between the two countries is needed in this domain, the spokesman said.

Source: MENA