ISLAMABAD, JULY 24 (DNA) –Ambassador of Egypt Ahmed Fadel Yacoub has said both Egypt and Pakistan enjoy historical relations that date back to even before the establishment of Pakistan.

Muslims of this region were always coming to Egypt to study at al-Azhar al-Sharif, the university that is more than 1000 years old. It is also worth noting that Qaid Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah visited Egypt in 1946, and met with Egyptian political leaders and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar.

Ambassador of Egypt made these remarks while speaking on the occasion of National Day of Egypt. A large number of guests including members of diplomatic community, civil society and media attended the reception.

He further said, Egypt received the first Pakistani ambassador in the same year, and sent the first Egyptian ambassador to Pakistan in January 1949.

“It is my pleasure to welcome you all and thank you for your presence tonight to commemorate the national day of Egypt; the 23rd of July. On that day, 66 years ago, in 1952, Egypt was, in spite of its legal independence, still under foreign occupation. It was suffering political unrest that manifested itself in the Cairo Fire in 1951, in a military failure in the war of 1948, and in deteriorating social conditions”.

The ambassador told that Allama Iqbal visited Cairo many times in the 1930s and his poems were translated into Arabic, and the famous Egyptian singer, Om Kolthoum sang some of his translated verses the “Shikwa and Jawab-e-Shikwa” in her very famous song: “Hadith ar-rouh”

And today, the two States share the same aspirations of peace and prosperity and face the same threats of terrorism and religious extremism.

“In this regard, I re-iterate the position of Egypt condemning the terrorist attack that hit Pakistan recently, and convey our condolences to the people and government of Pakistan”, he added.

The Pakistani-Egyptian relations have witnessed remarkable improvements in the past few months particularly with the visit of His Eminence the Grand Mufti of Egypt to Pakistan from the 20th to the 25th of March of this year.

In this visit,  he President Mamnoon Hussain, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Religious Affairs, the Counsel of Islamic Ideology, military officials and many religious figures from different schools of thought.

 In this visit, the Grand Mufti emphasized the true values of Islam which reject violence and terrorism in the name of religion.

He also endorsed the Paigham -e- Pakistan narrative. This Fatwa (religious opinion) came about within the framework of the intellectual battle that we are all fighting against extremism and terrorism, and which is no less important that the military and security battle.

The Second important visit is of General Zubair Mahmood Hayat, the Joint Chief of Staff to Egypt from the 28th to the 31st of March 2018. There, he met with President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, and the Egyptian military leaders.

There is also an on-going cooperation, both cultural and educational between the two countries, in addition to exchange of scholarships and training programs in different fields, he ambassador told the audience.

Talking about economic ties he said, the bilateral trade balance does not exceed 200 million dollars a year which does not reflect the potentials of both countries.

Therefore, Egypt welcomes the new “Look Africa” policy outlined by Pakistan, and we commend the decision of the Federal Ministry of Commerce to re-open the commercial office in the Pakistani Embassy in Cairo.

“We are confident that the two business communities will find a lot of mutual opportunities. So, we are working on facilitating meetings in both Egypt and Pakistan between businessmen and entrepreneurs”.

It is worth mentioning in this context, though, that we have 2 successful examples of joint investments. The first one is a Pakistani textile investment in Egypt which benefits from the facilities of the free zone area of Borg-el-Arab and exports their products directly to Europe and Africa via Alexandria.

“It is my mission as Ambassador of Egypt to keep working on strengthening the relations between both countries in all fields to the interest of the two states and peoples”, the ambassador concluded.=DNA

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