The proceedings of the Munich Security Conference (MSC) will be start in Cairo Sunday for the first time in the Middle East and Africa to tackle illegal migration, the spread of terrorism, climate change and cyber security.

A welcome dinner to the attendees was co-hosted on Saturday by the German Ambassador to Egypt, Cyrill Nunn, on the sidelines of the core group meetings on 26-28 October.

The 13th Core Group Meeting of the MSC brings together key leaders and representatives, including President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, chairman of the MSC Wolfgang Ischinger, Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid Bin Ahmed Bin Mohammed Al-Khalifa, Niger’s Foreign Minister Kalla Ankourao, Uganda's Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa, Djibouti's Foreign Minister Mahamoud Ali Youssouf, and Secretary General of the Arab League Ahmed Aboul-Gheit.

The event is supported by the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the League of Arab States.

The programme will begin with a MSC roundtable on sustaining peace in Sudan’s transition, following by a security roundtable on the African Continental Free Trade Agreement.

President El-Sisi will then discuss regional security cooperation from an African perspective.

“Within our geopolitical security matrix, the Middle East and in many impoverished parts of Africa is where all such issues converge and form one difficult chain to break. Inaction in addressing such mounting challenges, in some instances coupled with provocative policies by certain powers in our region, exacerbate the status quo even more,” El-Sisi said in a message to participants of the conference.

He added: “Comprehensive solutions, rather than ad hoc measures, should constitute the crux of our common approach guided by the rule of law, mutual respect, while avoiding polarisation and power politics.”

The Core Group Meeting will also include during its two-day conference discussion on Libya, and security in and around the Horn of Africa.

Following the conclusion of the meeting, the MSC will convene a subsequent Core Group Meeting in Doha, co-hosted with the government of Qatar, on 28-29 October.

As in Cairo, the meeting will bring together 60-80 senior political decision makers, experts, and representatives of international organisations and civil society from the region, along with counterparts from Germany, Europe and other parts of the world.

Last February, the Egyptian president participated in the annual Munich Security Policy Conference in Germany, highlighting security challenges facing the African continent, migration issues and the means of fighting terrorism.

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