Egyptian Ambassador to the US Moataz Zahran said on Friday during a virtual dialogue with the National Council on the US-Arab Relations that there are many cooperation opportunities between Egypt and the US under the administration of President-elect Joe Biden.
He added that President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi was one of the first leaders who congratulated President Biden over his new presidential post.
As for the violent events at the Capitol earlier this month, Zahran added that the Egyptian people were shocked at the events that took place on January 6.
He further noted that Egypt welcomed peace agreements between Egypt and the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco.
Egypt has always been keen on supporting regional peace, he pointed out, adding that Egypt has been supporting peace in the region for the past 40 years.
Egypt is now playing a role for enhancing this peace in the region, he said adding that the Middle East peace process is the major issue in the Middle East.
As for Iran, he noted that the nuclear file is not the only problem created by Iran in the region as its interference in the internal affairs of other countries and its efforts of destroying assets owned by Arab countries in the region should also be confronted.
There is a chance for cooperation with the new US administration in light of the escalation of Iranian interference in different conflicts within the region such as in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen. He also added that Egypt is having consultations with the Republicans and Democrats about Iran and its interference in the internal affairs of countries in the region.
As for Sudan, the Egyptian ambassador said Egypt hopes that Sudan could confront all challenges facing it.
As for the issue of the Ethiopian dam, he noted that Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia are three parties in this file and cooperation is needed to achieve progress. Meanwhile keeping in mind two important things; first the Ethiopian needs for development and second realising the threat facing Egypt and Sudan if the three countries could not reach an agreement in this regard or if Ethiopia would take unilateral action.
As for the Libyan file, Zahran said that Libya became the first threat to the Egyptian national security due to the chaos that is spreading there these days.
Egypt is supporting peace efforts in Libya and is playing a major role in reaching an understanding by the Libyan parties.
Egypt is still worried about foreign interference in the Libyan file he said, adding that Cairo has called on all foreign parties to leave Libya as their presence there leads to the worsening of the situation.
As for the current economic reform program in Egypt, he mentioned that Egypt has started its economic reform program a few years ago. These reforms led to achieving economic growth rates reaching 3.6 percent, which is not realized by most of the world countries due to the coronavirus pandemic.
He further noted that there are many investment opportunities in the Suez Canal axis especially in the energy sector. He then added that Egypt enjoys huge infrastructure as 14 new cities are being built while development efforts are made in the education sector for adopting high technology methods in the educational process.
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