Egypt's president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (Photo: AP)
Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has arrived at Germany's Tegel Airport, the main international airportof the capital Berlin, as he starts his official two-day visit to the European state, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported on Tuesday.
According to Egypt's state-run news agency MENA, El-Sisi was welcomed by officials of the Egyptian embassy and German government officials in the airport.
TV footage, moreover, showed dozens of pro-government Egyptians holding Egypt's flags and chanting in favour of El-Sisi in a Berlin street.
El-Sisi will meet German President Joachim Gauck in Berlin Wednesday, followed by a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, MENA reported.
El-Sisi will also meet with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and is expected to give a speech during the closing session of the Egyptian-German Economic Forum.
The Egyptian president is expected to sign a number of energy sector agreements with German multinational Siemens to boost Egypt's power supply.
Merkel officially invited the president to come to Germany in February.
The visit caused some controversy in Germany after Norbert Lammert, the president of the German parliament, refused a scheduled meeting with El-Sisi citing concerns about "a lack of democratic progress."
Egypt's ambassador to Germany, Mohamed Higazi, responded that it was the German side who had originally requested the meeting between Lammert and Sisi.
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