Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi met on Monday with German Minister of Economic Affairs and Energy Peter Altmaier at his residence in Berlin, where they discussed economic cooperation and bilateral relations.

According to the Egyptian presidency, El-Sisi praised the state of Egyptian-German economic relations, adding that Egypt is happy to host the fifth round of the Egyptian-German economic committee in Cairo in February 2019.

Minister Altmaier will be participating in the meeting of the committee along with a delegation of German businessmen so they can be introduced to the investment opportunities in the country, the presidency read.  

The Egyptian president also said that Egypt’s chairing of the African Union in 2019 will present an opportunity to boost relations with the German government and companies to push forward the G20 partnership initiative with Africa.

Minister Altmaier praised the positive developments on various fronts in Egypt over the past few years, adding that his country is keen to expand cooperation with Egypt in joint projects and increase the size of German investments in the country.

Following the meeting with Minister Altmaier, El-Sisi met with a number of German CEOs, where the president discussed the economic reforms adopted in Egypt to encourage investments and economic opportunities as a gateway to Africa and the Arab region.

The meeting was attended by Egypt’s Minister of Investment and International Cooperation Sahar Nasr and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry.

Minister Nasr said in statements to the media on Sunday that Germany ranks the 20th in the list of countries investing in Egypt, with $641.4 million in investments from 1,103 companies in the chemicals, petroleum, telecommunication, gas, automobile, iron and steel industries.