Cairo aims for greater regional clout

Significance

The advent of a new US administration has presented Egypt with an opportunity to reaffirm its regional strategic importance, but also created new risks.

Impacts

• The United States will remain an important factor in Egyptian foreign policy and military procurement, but it is no longer central.
• An accommodation between Egypt and Turkey may be feasible, and Saudi Arabia could support it, but the UAE might oppose it.
• Sisi will ignore Western criticisms of Egypt’s human rights record, calculating that the risk of any effective sanctions is low.