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Tuesday March 19, 2024

Relations with Pakistan deep-rooted, says Egyptian envoy

By DNA
July 19, 2019

Islamabad: Ambassador of Egypt Ahmed Fadel Yacoub has said relations between Egypt and Pakistan are historical and deeply rooted.

These relations go back even before the establishment of Pakistan. Quaid-e-Azam ‘Mohamad Ali Jinnah’ paid a visit to Egypt in 1946 and met with the Egyptian Political leaders and the Grand Imam of Al Azhar al Sharif. Egypt was among the first countries to recognize Pakistan and to establish diplomatic relations in 1948.

Ambassador of Egypt made these remarks while speaking on the occasion of National Day of Egypt.Mohammed Mian Soormo, Federal Minister for Privatization was the chief guest. While a large number of guests hailing from various walks of life attended the reception.

Students of a local school presented mesmerizing cultural performances.The ambassador added, since March 2018, the relations between Egypt and Pakistan witnessed important developments.

The visit of the Grand Mufti of Egypt to Pakistan in March 2018, the visit of General Zubair Hayat, the joint Chief of Staff to Egypt in March 2018 contributed significantly towards further strengthening of bilateral ties.

He said a large delegation from Pakistan headed by the Pakistani Federal Minister of Planning visited Egypt in September 2018 to celebrate 70 years of establishing diplomatic relations with Egypt and they held a forum with officials, businessmen and representatives of several important institutions to discuss the means to enhance the bilateral relations between both countries.

Then holding the 8th round of bilateral political consultations in December 2018 and visit of the Chief of the Army, General Qamar Bajwa to Egypt in January 2019 are also remained very fruitful.

Two fruitful meetings held by the 2 ministers of Foreign Affairs, one in September 2018 on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting.And the second meeting took place on the sidelines of the summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in May 2019.

We are also expecting a visit to Cairo by Foreign Minister of Pakistan soon, upon the invitation from HE the foreign minister of Egypt, which will be followed by the joint ministerial commission that is supposed to take place in Pakistan.

Ambassador Fadel said one of the milestones and most important high level meetings was the meeting of Abd El Fatah El Sisi the Egyptian President and Imran Khan Pakistani Prime Minster, which took place in Mecca on the side line of the OIC summit on the 31st of May 2019 which was a crucial to the bilateral relations between both countries.

In the field of cultural and educational cooperation, Egypt also provides 50 fully funded scholarships annually to Pakistani students to study in Al Azhar Alsharif, in addition to 50 seats for training Imams, scholars and preachers.

Recently, 30 Pakistani businessmen in the field of mango farming are travelling to Egypt to have a closer look on Egypt experience in this field, he added.Moreover, Egypt provides scholarships to Pakistani doctors to attend short training courses in Egypt on combating tropical diseases.

“I would like to refer to another interesting form of people to people interaction between our two countries, and in this respect I am referring to 30 Egyptian veterinarians, who are currently working in various Pakistani dairy farms in the vicinity of Lahore. They are sharing their experience with their Pakistani collogues to improve the milk production.”

The ambassador noted with satisfaction that the relations between Egypt and Pakistan have a great potential to grow in all fields, as both countries have common strategic interests and face the same challenges and the two people share the same aspiration for peace prosperity and development.

While talking about significance of the day the ambassador said, the celebration was dedicated to the 67th anniversary of the 1952 Revolution; a revolution that ushered a new era not only in Egypt’s history, but also the history of the Arab World and the Middle East.

Over the past 67 years Egypt has successfully moved ahead, overcame various internal and external challenges, and today, Egypt is transforming itself yet again.

He said, a number of mega projects have been launched under the new leadership since 2014; projects that aim to improve Egypt’s economy and represent a new stage in its development. Some of these mega projects include constructing a new administrative capital, which is located 45 kilometers East of Cairo.

It shall be inaugurated in 2020 and it shall be ready to host several million inhabitants as well as governmental and administrative authorities and is built according to the latest technology as a smart city.

Digging the New Suez Canal, which was inaugurated in August 2015 and aims to increase the capacity of the historic Suez Canal and the Suez Canal Economic Zone, will be a blueprint for future development, the ambassador concluded.