Speech by the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Arab Republic of Egypt in Ukraine Ayman Ahmed Mokhtar Elgammal (July 23, 2024, Ukraine, Kyiv)

 

 

Your Excellency Mr. Maxim Subkh,

The Special Representative for the Africa and the Middle East, Distinguished Representatives of the Diplomatic Missions and International Organizations,

Distinguished Deputies and Representatives of the Government and central executive bodies of Ukraine

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

Allow me to welcome you all to the celebration of the 72^nd anniversary of the revolution of the 23^rd of July, 1952.

In recent years, Egypt went through 2 other revolutions culminating in the revolution of the 30^th of June 2013 and the establishment of the third Egyptian Republic in 2014. Since then in the recent 10 years Egypt underwent a revamp of its economy and infrastructure to among its megaprojects:

-The creation of New Suez Canal in only one year reducing the travel time from 2 weeks to 2-3 days.

-Doubling the production of Electricity by building the three largest power plants in the world by Siemens in just 18 months.

-Relying on sustainable sources of Energy Solar and Wind and building the largest solar farm in Ben Ban. Currently 20% of Energy is from sustainable sources and the aim is to reach 42% by 2035.

-Improving and Building new highways totaling approximately 7000 km to improve inter-regional trade between cities.

-Building 24 new fourth generation cities to accommodate 32 million people, distributed equally geographically across the various regions of Egypt, in addition to 14 cities planned to begin implementation.

-Establishment of the New Administrative Capital and taking executive steps to permanently move the Egyptian ministries to it, in preparation for making it the political and administrative headquarters of the state.

- Establishing the Suez Canal Economic Zone in 2015 encompassing 4 industrial zones and 6 maritime ports and 305 operational establishments over 455 square kilometers along the east and west banks of the Suez Canal.

-Continuation of work in the Nuclear Power Plant, the Dabaa station, which is scheduled to begin operating in 2028 to produce electricity with a total capacity of 4,800 megawatts.

 

Dear distinguished Guests

Egypt and Ukraine have enjoyed friendly close relations in all political, economic, commercial and investment fields. We inaugurated our diplomatic relations on January 25, 1992, and the subsequent opening of the Egyptian embassy in Kiev in May 1993, and the Ukrainian Embassy in Cairo in September of the same year.

The trade balance between Egypt and Ukraine before Co vid and the current war was 2.1 billion dollars and while it went to about 1.3 billion dollars in 2023. Egypt is still Ukraine's number one trade partner in Africa and the Middle East, And the seventh trading partner worldwide, and the start of this year is showing positive progress towards returning to prewar trade balance.

In light of this, we look forward to the coming years witnessing further strengthening of relations with Ukraine, and we hope to raise the level of bilateral relations to broader horizons, leading to the achievement of common interests and mutual benefit for the sake of the peoples of both countries.

Egypt and Ukraine have a long history of cooperation in different fields one of them is Space technology, the first Egyptian Satellite was designed and build in Ukraine with the participation of Egyptian Experts as well 15 Egyptian Experts received their Master and PHD degrees from Ukraine.

 

Dear distinguished guests,

Egypt recent history since the 1952 revolution witnessed 3 wars in 1956, 1967 and 1973. More than 30% of its territory namely Sinai was occupied for 6 years. But Egypt was able to liberate all of its lands, not only by using military force, but mainly by using diplomacy, and even resorting to the International Court of Justice to recover the last disputed part, which is the Egyptian city of Taba in 19 March 1989; almost 16 years after the end of Hostilities in 1973.

Based on this history, Egypt believes in the sanctity of the principle of territorial integrity, and does not recognize the annexation of territory by force; and these principles have guided the position of Egypt towards all conflicts including in Ukraine since 2014. As Egypt did not recognize the annexation of Crimea or any other Ukrainian Territories. And also it has guided the position of Egypt in supporting all relevant UN resolutions since the start of the current war in 2022.

Also, Egypt believes that no conflict can be resolved through military means, and the diplomacy has a primary role to play in resolving any conflict, that’s why we have participated in the “Arab Ministerial Liaison Committee on the Ukrainian Crisis,” which was established by the League of Arab States following the outbreak of the conflict, and in the initiative of the African Presidents. And President Elsisi made an appeal to world leaders during the COP27 Summit to work towards the peaceful solution of the war in Ukraine. Moreover, Egypt supports all the efforts by different actors for a peaceful resolution for the conflict.

In conclusion, I would like to wish a speedy end of this conflict and to the suffering of Ukrainian citizens and hope that Egypt can play a positive role in bringing welfare and prosperity again to this beautiful country and its great people.

At the end of my statement, I would like to thank my staff at the Embassy for all their hard work and express my gratitude for the Ukrainian Authorities and my fellow Ambassadors for their assistance and cooperation during my four years’ tenure in Ukraine.

Glory to Egypt

Glory to Ukraine