Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi visited the ASEAN Secretariat and met with Secretary General of ASEAN Le Luong Minh in Jakarta on September 5.  During the meeting, the Secretary General underscored that the bloc is working on its future orientations, in which a key element is the expansion of ASEAN’s external relations to new and emerging partners in Africa and the Middle East.  He stressed the ASEAN region’s economic potential with a vast market of 625 million people and a combined GDP of over 2.5 trillion USD while noting the economic benefits of cooperation with Egypt. For his part, the Egyptian president acknowledged the strong and traditional relations with ASEAN member states and the growing trade ties between the two sides. The president highlighted Egypt’s economic potential, its efforts to promote in-shore trade and investment and the country’s recent development, including a new law to protect and support foreign investors and the newly inaugurated Suez Canal which he believes will improve regional and global trade as well as create positive impacts for Egypt’s economy.  Both sides agreed to explore closer cooperation in education, tourism, cultural heritage conservation and security including the fight against terrorism and violence. ASEAN and Egypt will also intensify exchange activities to increase mutual understanding through business-to-business networks and people-to-people linkages.-VNA