US First Lady Visits the Pyramids, Promotes Empowerment of Egyptian Women and Youth

On the second leg of her six-day trip across the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe, US First Lady Jill Biden arrived in Cairo on Friday, 2 June to promote women empowerment and education for young people.

This is Biden’s first trip to the Middle East as first lady. Before arriving in Egypt, she visited Jordan, where she attended the wedding of Crown Prince Hussein and Saudi architect Rajwa Alseif on 1 June.

Biden was greeted in the airport by Egyptian First Lady, Entissar Al-Sisi, and later had lunch with the President and First Lady at Al-Ittihadiyah, the Egyptian presidential palace.

In a Facebook post, the Egyptian First Lady welcomed Biden to her “second home”, and accompanied her throughout her trip in Egypt.

The trip began with a visit to the El Sewedy International Applied Technical School, where Biden engaged with Egyptian youth and underscored the United States’ commitment to working with local companies to “bring on-the-job training to the classroom,” as Biden tweeted.

On the second day, Biden toured Al-Azhar Mosque and the Great Pyramids of Giza, where she celebrated her birthday at the Giza plateau.

“What a great way to start the day, I was fortunate to visit the magnificent pyramids of Giza,” Biden tweeted.

Biden also expressed her joy in visiting the Al-Azhar Mosque, saying: “By understanding each other’s religions, I believe we can find common ground and be united by our desire for truth, love, justice, and healing.”

Concluding her trip, Biden bade farewell to Entissar Al-Sisi at the airport on June 3. She will be visiting Morocco next, before heading to Portugal, the final stop of her tour, on Monday, 5 June.

Egypt’s relationship with the US is longstanding. As it stands, Egypt is one of the largest recipients in the Mideast of American economic and military aid, which has played a key role in strengthening the strategic partnership between the two countries.

Since 1978, the United States has provided Egypt with over USD 50 billion (EGP 1.5 trillion) in military and USD 30 billion (EGP 925 billion) in economic assistance.