The Embassy of Germany in Cairo will hold a reception this evening to honour Ambassador Badr Abdel-Aty, the Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for European Affairs and Egypt's former ambassador to Germany.

German Ambassador in Cairo Cyrill Jean Nunn will bestow the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany upon Abdel-Aty during the ceremony.

Ambassador Abdel-Aty will be awarded the highest Medal of Merit with the rank of Commander, which the German Federal President gives every year to a select group of German citizens who have made efforts to serve German interests. The honour is also bestowed upon foreigners who have a footprint in the field of developing relations between their countries and the Republic of Germany.

Ambassador Abdel-Aty has been given the award due to the boom in Egyptian-German relations during his tenure in the position, which witnessed remarkable activities and exchanges of visits between officials from the two countries on all levels.

On the economic level, during Abdel-Aty's tenure, relations developed greatly and the largest deal in the history of the German company Siemens was concluded with the Egyptian electricity sector to establish three stations to generate 14.4 gigawatts, which are considered the largest stations established in the world.

Abdel-Aty's tenure also saw the return of Mercedes-Benz to manufacturing in Egypt after its exit from the Egyptian market in 2012. An agreement was also reached with the Bosch Corporation, one of the largest companies in the world that produce household electrical appliances, to establish a factory in 10th of Ramadan City.

This is in addition to increasing cooperation in the field of tourism, and the number of German tourists by the end of 2019 reached 2 million, the highest number in the history of relations between the two countries. 

The German medal was previously awarded to Mohamed El-Orabi, a former foreign minister of Egypt and ambassador to Germany, who served for seven years in the country.