By Mark Dovich
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is set to become the first Egyptian leader to visit Armenia, a senior official at Armenian President Vahagn Khachaturyan’s office confirmed to CivilNet by phone Wednesday, without specifying a date.
“(El-Sisi’s) visit is scheduled, but at the moment, I will refrain from giving a specific date. Once that is clear, we will publish an official message. Preparatory work is now underway,” said Aghasi Margaryan, the head of Khachaturyan’s communications department.
Margaryan added that el-Sisi will also visit Azerbaijan as part of a regional trip. As of early afternoon Wednesday, Baku has not commented publicly on the matter.
On Tuesday, Armenian parliament speaker Alen Simonyan arrived in Qatar for an official visit, noting that “the development of multifaceted relations with the Arab world is one of the primary directions of Armenia’s foreign policy.”
Armenia and Egypt established diplomatic relations in 1992. El-Sisi has led Egypt since 2014.