Trump and Sisi meet in New York
Trump and Sisi meet in New YorkReuters

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will make his first state visit to Washington during the first week of April at the invitation of U.S. President Donald Trump, Reuters reported Saturday, citing the Egyptian state-owned newspaper Al-Ahram.

The trip will be Sisi's first U.S. state visit since being elected president in 2014. Former U.S. President Barack Obama had never extended a formal invitation to Sisi.

Sisi had strained relations with the Obama administration. In 2013, shortly after Sisi and the Egyptian army ousted then-Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, Obama suspended American military aid to Egypt. He released the aid two years later.

American law forbids sending aid to countries where a democratic government was deposed by a military coup, though Washington has never qualified Morsi’s ouster as a "coup" and had been cautious about doing so, choosing only to condemn the violence in the country.

After Trump’s election, Sisi praised the new president and said he expected greater engagement in the Middle East from his administration.

In January, Sisi and Trump discussed ways to boost the fight against terrorism and extremism.