Egypt’s Sisi to meet Trump advisor Jared Kushner on Wednesday

Kushner and company were supposed to meet with Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, but prior reports indicated the Shoukry meeting was canned.

The delegation also involved the USA special representative for global negotiations, Jason Greenblatt, and deputy national security advisor, Dina Powell.

Prior to this week’s move, it was clear that the Trump administration wanted more bang for the bucks it was sending Egypt.

The US president has repeatedly hailed Mr El Sisi as a major ally in the fight against terrorism.

Earlier Wednesday, the Foreign Ministry said the usa decision showed “poor judgment” regarding the two countries’ “strategic relationship”. The Ministry added that the decision reflects an incomplete vision towards the economic and security hardships Egypt is dealing with.

Ordinary Egyptians were divided over the USA decision to curtail aid – many who opposed Sisi mocked the country’s leader online while those in the pro-Sisi camp stoked nationalism, saying the country would not bow to United States demands in order to receive aid. “Egyptian interests.” It did not elaborate.

The sum does not represent the full extent of US aid to Egypt, which runs at around $1.3 billion each year, with the funds being up in the air since April, when Sisi visited President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C. It receives about $1.5 billion annually, with Washington linking the $1.3 billion in military aid and $250 million in economic aid to Egypt sustaining its security relationship with the USA and abiding by the 1979 Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty.

Tillerson has directed that the frozen $195 million in military aid can be accessed “at any time”, provided Egypt makes progress, the official said. The aid package has been in the cross-hairs before over Egypt’s rights record, with the Obama administration suspending delivery of major military systems, then resuming them under restricted terms of purchase. The White House did not specify why it made the decision that sparked his week’s row. Human rights groups and activists have said that it effectively bans their work.

Egypt has defended the law, which provoked an global backlash, saying it was drafted and approved according to its constitution.

Egyptian authorities have been fighting an insurgency in the north of the Sinai Peninsula, where an Islamic State jihadist group affiliate has killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen. That meeting was expected later on Wednesday.