Sisi's visit to Madrid highly important

Egypt's Ambassador to Spain Ahmed Ismail Abdel Moeti highlighted the importance of President Abdel Fattah al Sisi's visit to Spain set for Thursday.

Sisi is scheduled to hold talks with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and delegations from both countries.

Spanish Minister of Industry José Manuel Soria cut short his visit to China to join the Spanish-Egyptian talks.

In statements on Tuesday, Abdel Moeti said Spain is deeply interested in expanding its trade, investment and industrial cooperation with Egypt which Madrid views as a big market in view of strategic location in the Middle East region and Africa.

He said talks aim at bolstering bilateral relations in all domains, especially the trade exchange, investment and tourism.

The two sides are also expected to review a set of regional and international issues of common interests and means of combating terrorism and illegal immigration, he added.

The ambassador said Spain is one of the biggest economies in Europe after it has recently survived its economic and financial crises.

He made it clear that both countries could bolster cooperation in various industrial domains, especially the automobile industry, railway and renewable energy.

In this regard, the ambassador said a Spanish company is currently carrying out a project to generate wind power from in Jabal el Zeit region at total investments of 120 million euros.

The Spanish industry minister took part in the Egypt Economic Development Conference (EEDC) in Sharm El Sheikh during which he asserted his country's backing for Egypt in its war against terrorism.

He said as many as 20 Spanish companies are willing to set up investments in Egypt in the fields of energy, services, engineering and infrastructure.