Europe

Merkel visits Egypt for talks on stemming migration

Associated Press
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel meets with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi at the presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt, Thursday, March 2, 2017. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) (The Associated Press)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, meets with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi at the presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt, Thursday, March 2, 2017. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) (The Associated Press)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel meets with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi at the presidential palace, in Cairo, Egypt, Thursday, March 2, 2017. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) (The Associated Press)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has met with Egypt's president during a visit to Cairo to discuss ways of slowing migration to Europe.

Merkel held talks with President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi shortly after her arrival on Thursday.

She is expected to meet with businessmen, civil society representatives, and Muslim and Christian leaders before heading to Tunisia on Friday.

Merkel's spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said Wednesday that Germany wants to help Egypt to strengthen its coast guard and crack down on illegal trafficking across the Mediterranean, where thousands of migrants die at sea each year.