Egypt's Sisi to meet Trump in Davos

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will meet US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Egypt's presidency said on Tuesday.

This will be the first meeting between the two leaders since the US announced it was launching the second phase of its plan to end the war in Gaza.

Sisi and Trump met in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in October during a summit convened by Egypt to sign a ceasefire deal aimed at ending the war.

On Friday, Trump said that he was also ready to restart US mediation between Egypt and Ethiopia to resolve the dispute over an Ethiopian dam, which both Egypt and Sudan consider a serious threat to vital water supplies.

Collapsed talks

Washington-led mediations began during Trump’s first term, but they effectively collapsed in 2020, when Ethiopia withdrew — though some discussions later continued under the African Union.

Ethiopia formally inaugurated the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, or GERD, last fall. As Africa’s largest dam, it is located on the Blue Nile near Ethiopia’s border with Sudan and is meant to produce more than 5,000 megawatts, doubling Ethiopia’s electricity generation capacity.

Ethiopia sees the dam as a boon to its economy. But Egypt opposed its construction, arguing that it would reduce the country’s share of Nile River waters, which it almost entirely relies on for agriculture and to serve its more than 100 million people.