Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on Saturday hosted visiting Senegalese President Macky Sall for talks at the Ittihadia Palace in Cairo.

The two leaders' discussions focused on various issues, including bolstering bilateral relations and the upcoming African Union Summit, during which President Sall is expected to assume the body's Chairmanship.

"As to our consultations today, we tackled ways to foster closer bilateral relations during the coming period across an array of political and economic fields," said President el-Sisi. "We confirmed our resolve to further advance these relations by increasing trade and spurring mutual investments, and stressed the need to achieve utmost benefit from launching the Egyptian-Senegalese Businessmen Council."

The Egyptian leader expressed his confidence in his Senegalese counterpart's upcoming leadership tenure at the AU.

President el-Sisi urged President Sall to focus on guiding the continent through the challenges that it currently faces, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the threat of extremism and terrorism.

The Egyptian president noted that their discussions also stressed the need for concerted continental efforts to ensure vaccines are accessible to all African countries.

Other issues that were deliberated upon include climate change and the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 27) to the UNFCCC.