US says to work with Egypt's president-elect

Egypt's Sisi officially declared president

WASHINGTON -- The United States said Thursday that it would work with Egypt's president-elect to advance shared interests.

"The United States looks forward to working with President- elect (Abdel Fattah) Al-Sisi in Egypt and his government to advance our strategic partnership and many shared interests," State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said at a daily news briefing.

According to Harf, a US delegation led by the department's counselor Thomas Shannon would attend Al-Sisi's inauguration Sunday.

Al-Sisi, Egypt's former army chief, was officially declared the president-elect Tuesday as he garnered 96.91 percent of the vote in the elections held in late May.

Harf urged Egypt to initiate economic reforms with a view to reducing its dependence on foreign assistance in particular.

"We don't believe that foreign assistance alone can provide the kind of economic stability and the economic opportunities that really will help move Egypt's economy forward and be most advantageous to Egypt's people," she said in response to Saudi Arabia's call for an international conference in aid of Egypt's economy.

US-Egypt relations have been uneasy for the past few years, and the Obama administration decided to relax a partial suspension of aid recently, imposed after the Egyptian military removed President Mohamed Morsi from power in July last year and started a crackdown on protesters, by delivering 10 Apache attack helicopters and 650 million dollars in aid.