Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi met with the chairman of the Munich Security Conference Wolfgang Ischinger in Berlin on Sunday and the pair discussed countering terrorism, illegal migration, and the latest updates concerning the Middle East and North Africa, a statement by El-Sisi’s spokesman Bassam Rady read.

Ischinger extended an invitation to El-Sisi to take part in next year’s session of Munich Security Conference, noting that Egypt’s assumption of the African Union’s presidency in 2019 would offer a good chance for fostering coordination and consultations on regional files, the spokesman added.

During the meeting, Ischinger hailed Egyptian efforts to combat terrorism. 

Ischinger also praised the efforts that the Egyptian government has been exerting to combat illegal migration.

He said that "there have not been any Egyptian nationals among the large numbers of refugees hosted by Germany since 2015, which shows the success of the Egyptian strategy in dealing with this phenomenon," the statement read. 

The Munich Security Conference is among the most important annual conferences on international security policy and has taken place since 1963. 

Each year it brings together about 350 senior figures from more than 70 countries around the world to engage in an intensive debate on current and future security challenges.