Russians honour Mohamed El-Gebaly in Moscow
Reham El-Adawi, Wednesday 21 Oct 2020
El-Gebaly asserted that culture is a bridge for building constructive communication between countries of the world


Cultural Counselor and Director of the Egyptian Cultural Office in Moscow Mohamed El-Gebaly has been awarded the 'International Cooperation' diploma by the Federal Agency for Cooperation with Independent Countries, Expatriates Residing Abroad and International Humanitarian Cooperation in Moscow.

This week, the representative of the Federal Agency for Cooperation with Independent Countries, Expatriates Residing Abroad and International Humanitarian Cooperation in Egypt and Director of the Russian Cultural Centre in Cairo Alexey Tevanyan honoured Cultural Counselor, Director of the Egyptian Educational Mission and Director of the Egyptian Cultural Office in Moscow Mohamed Nasreddin El-Gebaly, granting him the "International Cooperation" diploma for his distinguished efforts in developing the human relations between the two countries. The award also goes to his excellent organisation of bilateral cultural events ever since he took responsibility for the Egyptian Cultural Office in Russia.

For his part, El-Gebaly pointed out that culture is a bridge for building constructive communication between countries of the world and between people. It is the soft power that shows the true role of Egypt, it's a positive image and has cultural influence in its regional and international surroundings.

"We are keen to make the book the main way of cooperating especially with people like Russians who love reading," said El-Gebaly. "Therefore, we have documented our activities with major libraries and museums in Russia, and we were able, in agreement with the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, to present the activities of the Egyptian Cultural Office from within its halls," he added.

"Also, the celebration of the 68th anniversary of the July Revolution was joined by Mikhail Piotrovsky, director of the Hermitage Museum, with whom we are now preparing to present a major Egyptian celebration next year," said El-Gebaly and Yevgeny Primakov, head of the Federal Agency for Cooperation Affairs with Independent Countries, Expatriates Residing Abroad and International Humanitarian Cooperation.

"We also organised Egyptian Cultural Days at the National Library in Petersburg and the Foreign Literature Library in Moscow, and in cooperation with the Russian Ministry of Culture platform, we provided online lectures on Egyptian art, which recorded 500 thousand views, and we succeeded to establish a library inside the Cultural Office in Moscow, which has become an important source for Russian students studying Eastern Sciences," he expatiated a little further.

El-Gebaly added that the activities of the Egyptian Cultural Office are fully supported by the Egyptian Embassy in Russia under the auspices of Ambassador Ehab Nasr.

Director of the Russian Cultural Centre in Cairo Alexey Tevanyan, also confirmed that the Federal Agency decided to honour one person this year, and it was El-Gebaly, for the tremendous efforts he exerted in supporting bilateral relations between Egypt and Russia.

On this occasion, President of the Egyptian Association of Graduates from Russian and Soviet Universities Sherif Gad congratulated El-Gebaly for this honor, noting that cooperation between Russia and Egypt goes way back.

"For more than half a century, the Egyptian Cultural Office played an important role in strengthening this connection when it opened its doors for the first time in 1957 and since then it has been working tirelessly to strengthen cultural ties between the two countries," said Gad.

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