Minister of Culture and artist Ines Abdel-Dayem received the Ambassador of Tunisia in Egypt, Mohamed ben Youssef, a couple of days ago, together with Amira Al-Hamdi, the cultural advisor at the Tunisian embassy.

Present at the meeting were also Magdy Saber — director of the Cairo Opera House — and Sabry Said — head of the Foreign Cultural Relations Sector — to discuss the means of enhancing joint cooperation between the two countries in various cultural and artistic fields.

In addition to discussing the agenda for the celebrations of the Egypt-Tunisia Culture Year 2021-2022, which has been announced by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and his Tunisian counterpart Kais Said.

The minister of culture announced the launch of the activities of the Egypt-Tunisia Culture Year on 23 June as part of the ‘Cultural Relations Initiative’ organised by the Foreign Cultural Relations Sector, in cooperation with the Supreme Council of Culture.

During the meeting, Abdel-Dayem stressed that soft power is a means of rapprochement between the nations of the world and is a bridge for exchanging diverse visions and creations, pointing to the strength and depth of relations between Egypt and Tunisia and their peoples.

She explained the importance of intensifying cultural and artistic exchange between the two countries during the coming period through the implementation of the activities of the Egypt-Tunisia Culture Year. “The Egypt-Tunisia Culture Year activities aim to strengthen the bonds of friendship between the two countries,” she added.

For his part, Tunisian Ambassador ben Youssef applauded the efforts of the Culture Ministry in fostering strong cultural and artistic communication with other countries, expressing his happiness with exchanging the activities that reflect the different artistic and cultural heritages in the Egyptian and Tunisian societies.

At the end of the meeting, Abdel-Dayem and ben Youssef agreed to exert all joint efforts in order to make the Egypt-Tunisia Culture Year a great success.