Egypt's Sisi stresses keenness to guarantee Gulf security

CAIRO, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi stressed on Thursday his country's keenness to guarantee the national security of Bahrain and the Gulf region.

Sisi's remarks came during his meeting in Cairo with visiting Bahraini Foreign Minister Khaled Bin Ahmed Bin Mohamed Al Khalifa, Egyptian presidential spokesman Bassam Rady said in a press statement.

Sisi reiterated that the security of the Gulf region is an integral part of the national security of Egypt, said the statement.

The meeting tackled a number of regional issues such as combating terrorism as well as efforts to reach settlements on ongoing crises in the region, according to the statement.

In June 2017, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt severed relations with Qatar, accusing the oil rich Gulf country of supporting "terrorism." Qatar rejects the allegations as "baseless."

The four Arab countries also issued a list of 13 demands for Doha to end the crisis, including reducing its ties with Iran and closing the Qatari Al-Jazeera TV station.

Under the list, Qatar is also required to immediately terminate its construction of a Turkish military base in addition to severing all ties with "terrorist organizations" including the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamic State, al-Qaida, Lebanon's Hezbollah and Fatah al-Sham, formerly known as Nusra Front, which were labeled as terrorist groups. Enditem