Zubair Qureshi
Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt Ahmed Fadel Yacoub has said relations between Pakistan and Egypt are historical and deeply-rooted. They trace their strength back in the days when Founder of Pakistan Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah visited Egypt in 1946 and met with Egyptian political leaders and the Grand Mufti of Jamia Al-Azhar Al-Sharif.
The ambassador said this while addressing the reception organized by the embassy to mark the National Day of Egypt Wednesday evening.
Federal Minister for Privatization former Caretaker Prime Minister Muhammad Mian Soomro was the chief guest on the occasion. Leader of the Opposition in Senate Raja Muhammad Zafarul Haq, Deputy Chairman Senate Salim Mandviwala, Additional Foreign Secretary Aftab Khokhar, Muhammad Aejaz and Governor State Bank Reza Baqir were among the noted guests.
In his brief address, Minister for Privatization congratulated the Egyptian ambassador on the National day of his country and expressed the relations between Pakistan and Egypt would grow further with the passage of time.
He said Egypt has been a cradle of civilizations and world heritage and tourists from around the world visit this country to discover its beautiful places, scenes and sites.
Ambassador Fadel earlier in his welcome address while expressing gratitude to the guests said a number of mega projects have been launched under the new leadership since 2014 aiming to improve Egypt economy and present a new phase of its development.
The envoy referred to constructing a new administrative capital which is located 45 kilometres east of Cairo, and it will be inaugurated in 2020.
Digging the new Suez Canal which was inaugurated in August 2015 and aimed to increase the capacity of the historic canal is also among the landmark projects the new leadership has launched.
The ambassador told the guests that the Suez Canal Economic Zone was being set up that offered a new investor-friendly business environment that will be a blueprint for future development.
He recalled that Egypt was among the first countries to offer recognition to Pakistan and established diplomatic ties with it in 1948.
The ambassador said relations between Pakistan and his country had a great potential to grow in all spheres saying he believed that Pakistan and Egypt had common strategic interests and faced the same challenges and the two people shared the same aspirations for peace, prosperity and development.
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, visit of Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Zubair Hayat to Egypt in March 2018 contributed significantly towards further strengthening of bilateral ties.
He said a delegation from Pakistan headed by the Pakistani Federal Minister for Planning, Development & Reform Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar visited Egypt in September 2018 to celebrate 70 years of establishing diplomatic relations with Egypt and held a forum with officials, businessmen and representatives of several important institutions to discuss means to enhance the bilateral relations.
