Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Photo: Wikipedia.

JNS.org – Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi met with World Jewish Congress (WJC) President Ronald Lauder Sunday to discuss US-Egypt relations, Israeli-Palestinian negotiations and the Egyptian leader’s forthcoming trip to Washington, DC.

El-Sisi is scheduled to meet with President Donald Trump at the beginning of April, and the Trump administration’s initiative to jumpstart regional peace talks is slated to be high on the leaders’ agenda.

The meeting between El-Sisi and Lauder was held in Cairo at the Egyptian presidential palace and was also attended by Khaled Fawzi, the head of Egyptian national intelligence.

According to a readout of the meeting published by the Turkish Anadolu news agency, El-Sisi told Lauder, “The next stage requires strengthening…of Egyptian-American relations at all levels.” El-Sisi also described current US-Egypt relations as “close, extensive and of a strategic nature.”

Regarding Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, El-Sisi reiterated his call for a two-state solution and stated he wanted to “continue to contribute in a positive way to the creation of the atmosphere necessary for the resumption of peace negotiations between the Palestinian and Israeli sides.”

According to a spokesperson for the WJC, Lauder — an American billionaire and former college classmate and business partner of President Trump‘s — was in Egypt for “a personal meeting not related to the World Jewish Congress.”