President Abdelfattah El Sisi delivered an address at the Summit for Refugees and Migrants at the 71st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meeting yesterday in New York, covering national efforts to combat terrorism, illegal immigration, and human trafficking, according to Al Masry Al Youm’s full transcript of the speech. Egypt currently hosts over 5 mn migrants which the country is successfully attempting to integrate into society, he says, and is working on drafting a law to help combat illegal immigration flows out of Egypt. The annual UNGA general debate starts today and runs until next Monday.

El Sisi’s agenda yesterday also included discussing peacekeeping efforts with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on the sidelines of the UNGA session, with Ban commending Egypt’s efforts to revive the peace process between the Palestinians and Israelis as well as other crises in the Middle East, according to an e-mailed statement from Ittihadiya. El Sisi also met with Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, where they discussed moving forward with the gas agreement signed last month during Oil Minister Tarek El Molla’s visit and the Egyptian, Cypriot and Greek cooperation on exploration projects. President Anastasiades will be visiting Egypt next month. El Sisi accepted an invitation to visit Austria extended by Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern, and met with the President of the European Council Donald Tusk as well as Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.

El Sisi also chaired an African Union Peace and Security Council meeting on Monday night in New York, which looked at setting up peacekeeping efforts in South Sudan, according to Al Shorouk.