Bayoumi:Egypt, UAE prove successful paradigm of Arab coordination

Ambassador Gamal Bayoumi said that Egypt looks to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as part of its dream of Arab solidarity

Ambassador Gamal Bayoumi, Former Assistant to Foreign Minister, said that Egypt looks to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as part of its dream of Arab solidarity. The historical Egyptian-Emirati relations started even before 1971 with the late president Gamal Abdel Nasser and the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan and it was an example of “good relations,” he added.

In a phone call with (Breakfast Show), Bayoumi pointed out that relations between countries, even the brotherly ones could have some problems, but we never had problems with the UAE even during the period of differences between Egypt and Arab countries after signing the peace agreement with Israel. Emirates stands still to be a good partner, an arbitrator and a power to bring solidarity among the Arab world, he mentioned, stressing that they continued to play this role.

The ambassador said that recently we are glad that “the brother ship is good”. However, he mentioned that it will be very important when it comes to realizing our common interest to develop our relations in the economic, cultural and social fields.

The Egyptian community in the UAE is one of our most imminent groups living abroad, he noted, hoping to make it larger as it serves the United Arab Emirates as well as the Egyptian economy. The future is prosperous and he wished that we take all the opportunities in order to cross any challenges we are facing nowadays.

In this regard, he underscored the problems Egypt faced on the international level as the impact of coronavirus on tourism which affects our economy in addition to the Russian-Ukrainian war that affects two important sectors: food and energy. As a producer of energy, we are not affected much but as for the food, the country started to search for other options to cover our needs.

Thus coordination among Arabs is important, ambassador Bayoumi assured, referring to the meeting between the heads of state from six Arab Gulf countries, plus Egypt, Jordan and Iraq, and the US President Joe Biden in Jeddah earlier this year as an example of success. It is coordination, he illustrated, that created an Arab front to face any proposals which “is not in our interest”. Such presence, he believed, will put Arabs in a better situation politically, economically and socially.

Investment is still a challenge facing Arab countries, he said, as up till now they have a sort of unregulated distribution of investment. They invest a lot on services, tourism, and banking by 80%, 9% on industry, and only 2% on agriculture and food, the needs of the Arab world. Another challenge, he mentioned, is that Arabs invest abroad much more than they invest in their own countries.

The governments of Egypt and the UAE started on Wednesday their celebration of the 50th anniversary of Egyptian-Emirati relations, under the theme “Egypt and the UAE…One Heart”. The three-day celebrations come under the patronage of Egypt President Abdel Fattah e-Sisi and Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates.

(Breakfast Show) is aired from Saturday to Thursday on Nile TV International. This episode is conducted by Enjy Maher.