President Trump Participates in a Pull-Aside with the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt

Thank you very much. A friend of mine is he was a great general. He's a great president. And it's an honor to have him. And, Mr. President, we have a lot to talk about. So I thought maybe the press might want to ask us a couple of questions after you say a few words. But we had a wonderful time. And I think we've made a lot of progress so far in Switzerland, in Davos, made a speech. It's being reviewed quite nicely. And we have a fantastic relationship with Egypt. And the president will call and ask for things, and we always are able to work it out. But the relationship has been very strong right from the beginning, from years ago. So I want to thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. President, for the opportunity to speak to you. And I wish you a year full of achievements. May God protect your country. Allow me, Mr. President, at the beginning to extend my thanks and appreciation for you for allowing this opportunity to happen. And this meeting with you, I would like also to congratulate you on a year full of achievements since you came back to office. I would like also to thank you, Mr. President, and congratulate you for all the achievements that you have done on one of the toughest files in our part of the world. This is Gaza. I said it before, I reiterate it now, I reemphasize it before our colleagues and before the media, but for President Trump, we wouldn't have reached an agreement on the assault. I would ask you, Mr. President, to continue paying your attention and care for this file so that the plan to be implemented. So, President, you've announced the second phase of the Gaza plan. This is very important that it comes forward and it takes effect. And on our part, we'll be standing there ready to provide everything that we can to make this a success. As for the Council of Peace, it is our pleasure to be on the Council of Peace, the Board of Peace. We are very happy to be on the Board of Peace and we are supporting and very happy to be there backing up every effort that can bring about peace in our part of the world and globally. I would like also to thank you, Mr. President, for your support of us in an existential issue. And this is the Great Renaissance Dam and the River Nile. And for the record and before the press, I would like just to remind everybody that Your Excellency did a lot of effort in this regard, in this file. In your first term in office, you almost had a deal. You've done everything in your power at the time to get this deal done. Mr. President, accept our highest appreciation and respect. Well, thank you very much. They're talking about the dam that's been built in Ethiopia. It's one of the largest dams in the world, the largest dam in Africa. But it's one of the largest dams anywhere in the world. It was financed by the United States and it basically blocks the Nile River. You know, when I think of Egypt, I think about the Nile more than any other place, in all fairness. But it goes through Ethiopia. And a dam was built, a very big one, very, very big one, massive. And it was something that should have been talked about a long time ago when they were building it and financing it. So I got involved at the end of my first term and I was going to have a deal. We were going to have pretty close to a deal. Then we had a rigged election and I left and, of course, Biden didn't do anything about it because he didn't know he was alive. And here I come back and it's become a very dangerous issue, the dam. And I'll see if I can get that back on track. We were all set to make a deal. We're going to do a joint venture of sorts. And it would have been good. I think it would have been good for both. But it's a dangerous thing. They built a dam where somebody is not getting the water that they are supposed to get and that they've gotten for a million years. And all of a sudden the water flow is blocked by a very massive dam. I wouldn't be happy about it. And, you know, you have a very strong leader in the president. And I hear you have a strong leader in Ethiopia, too. I don't know him as well as I know you, but he's a strong guy. And I'm going to try bringing the two of you together, see if we can make a deal. I appreciate that. I think he understands me, right? I think he understands English better than we do. You know, a lot of these guys that don't understand, they understand. They understand it very well. But I think we'll be able to do something about the dam. The dam is a big problem, but we'll be able to do something. Most importantly, great leader, great guy. And we're there for each other. We've known each other right from before Hillary. It was before Hillary. We met during the campaign with Hillary, and we met at a hotel. She was supposed to meet with the president, and I was supposed to meet. I went first, and after he met me, he didn't want to meet her. And I said, I like that guy. But we've had, from that moment on, that was before the election. We've always had a great relationship, and it continues stronger than ever. Thank you very much. Thank you, everybody. Well, we're going to have a lot. We have a lot of great people that want to join. It's going to be the most prestigious board ever formed. The president is a member. We have major countries, and some need parliamentary approval. But for the most part, everybody wants to be on. I have a little bit of the opposite problem. People want to be on, and we didn't ask them. They want to get on, but we'll look at the country. So we're going to have—I think it's the greatest board ever formed. And we call it the Board of Peace. That's what it is. It's the Board of Peace. And it started on Gaza, and I appreciate what you said on Gaza, because it's true, if we weren't involved, there'd be no peace. We have peace in the Middle East now. And you might have Hamas. We have a little flame here and there, but basically that'll be taken out. And if they don't get rid of the guns, then they'll be— then they will be very unhappy people. You know, it's going to—we'll have no choice. They will be eliminated. They made a deal to get out. You have Hezbollah in Lebanon. We have to do something there. They're causing a lot of problems. But those are small. We actually have peace in the Middle East. And the president was very instrumental. He really helped us, one of the most. And we've had great help from a number of countries. But Egypt has been great. The president has been great. And we have peace in the Middle East. It's an amazing thing. Nobody thought we'd ever see that. Now, I would say if we didn't bomb the Iran nuclear plant, they would have had a nuclear weapon within two months. You would not have peace in the Middle East. You wouldn't be able to. Nobody would be able to do that. But that's what gave us peace in the Middle East. Thank you very much, everyone. Thank you, President. Everyone, thank you. Thank you, President. Thank you, everyone. Thank you, President. We'll all see what happens. The military is not on the table. I don't think it will be necessary. I really don't. Hopefully. I think people are going to use better judgment. They'll use their best judgment. And I don't think that will not be necessary. Thank you, guys. Thank you, President. Thank you.