The Egyptian delegation was accompanied by Chairman of the House of Representatives’ Human Rights Committee Tarek Radwan.

“We discussed the new developments [of the strategy] since my last visit to Egypt in April 2022,” Gilmore wrote on social media.

#Egypt: Today, I met with a delegation from the Egyptian House of Representatives, led by the Chair of Human Rights Committee Mr. Tarek Radwan. We discussed implementation of Egypt's National Human Rights Strategy, the new developments since my last visit to Egypt in April 2022. pic.twitter.com/m8jkFRw6l0

— Eamon Gilmore (@EamonGilmore) July 18, 2023

Throughout the week in Brussels, Belgium, the Egyptian delegation have had several discussions over the implementation of the national strategy with senior European and Belgian officials in the administrative centre in the EU.

The Egyptian delegation in Brussels presented the country’s development in the human rights file, referring to President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi's review of the first executive report of the National Human Rights Strategy in December 2022.

Following the review, Egypt's State of Information Service (SIS) released the first periodical of the Human Rights Bulletin for the fourth quarter of 2022 in January which detailed Egypt’s efforts towards upholding and protecting human rights within the context of the strategy, which El-Sisi launched in 2021.

The delegation also spoke about Egypt’s National Dialogue and the expected progress it will produce not only in the human rights domain, but also in the fields of economy, civil society, and domestic politics.

Radwan referred to the reactivation of the Presidential Pardon Committee in April 2022, which was initially formed in October 2016, and its release of over 1,400 detainees and their reintegration into Egyptian society.

Furthermore, Egypt adopts a comprehensive approach in the issue of human rights, giving attention to civil, economic, social and cultural rights, the chairman asserted.

He referred to the Decent Life initiative as an example. The campaign implements development projects in multiple sectors to improve the standard of living in Egypt’s most impoverished villages, Radwan continued.

EU officials and Belgium’s Foreign Ministry lauded Egypt’s progress in both its human rights strategy and national dialogue.

The European officials expressed their aspiration to continue their engagement with Egypt on all levels, asserting the depth of relations between Egypt and Belgium and the EU.