Parliament overview: 7 diplomatic meetings in 3 days

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Sun, 21 Jan 2018 - 05:28 GMT

BY

Sun, 21 Jan 2018 - 05:28 GMT

Egyptian Parliament - AFP

Egyptian Parliament - AFP

CAIRO - 21 January 2018: The Egyptian House of Representatives has intensified its activities lately, following a negative opinion poll conducted by the Baseera Center which showed dissatisfaction of roughly 37 percent of Egyptians with the performance of Egypt's Parliament in the period from March 2016 to April 2017.

The Egyptian Parliament's Foreign Relations Committee will hold seven diplomatic meetings this week under the chairmanship of Tarek Radwan, the Chairman of the Egyptian parliament's foreign affairs, with the aim of boosting bilateral relations between Egypt and other countries.

In January 2016, the approval rate for the performance of the parliament was 25 percent 15 months after it first convened; the current legislature was elected in late 2015.

According to the recent poll conducted in May 2017, the percentage of male approval was higher than females, showing that 24 percent of those below 30 years of age registered their approval in April 2017, while the figure was 41 percent for those over 50.

In June 2012, Egypt’s House of Representatives was dissolved by a court order during the rule of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

The scheduled agenda for the Parliament’s Foreign Relations Committee from Sunday to Tuesday includes seven meetings. The first meeting will be with Mexico’s Ambassador to Egypt Jose Octavio Trip, which will be followed by another meeting on Sunday with Portugal’s Ambassador Madlena Fisher.

Radwan, who has chaired the Foreign Relations Committee since last October, is expected also to meet with Jordanian Ambassador Ali Ayed on Sunday.

On Monday, Radwan chairs a significant meeting with Chinese Ambassador Song Aiguo and the Parliamentary Secretary to the Canadian minister of Foreign Affairs Omar al-Jabrah and the accompanying delegation.

On Tuesday, an Egyptian-Belgian summit at the parliamentary level will be held between Egypt’s Foreign Relations Committee and Belgium’s Ambassador in Cairo Sibille de Cartier, before meeting with Austria’s Ambassador Neil Hawkins.

The seven meetings are meant to tackle the bilateral cooperation at the legislative and executive levels, most notably the economic, tourism, exchange of information and combating terrorism fields.

Speaker of the House of Representatives Ali Abdel Aal travelled to Manama, Bahrain, on Saturday leading a parliamentary delegation upon an invitation from Speaker of Bahrain's Parliament, Ahmed bin Ibrahim Rashid al-Malla.

Abdel Aal’s visit aims to discuss boosting bilateral relations between Egypt and Bahrain, especially at the parliamentary level.

The Egyptian delegation members will hold a number of meetings with senior Bahraini officials in Manama.

On January 2, a Parliamentarian delegation headed to Saudi Arabia upon an invitation from the chairman of Saudi Arabia’s Consultative Assembly to discuss different issues facing the region, including terrorism.

The Head of the Arab Affairs Committee, Saad el-Gammal, stated that they discussed their common vision for many Arab issues and crises in the region such as terrorism, and focused on the deep common relations between the two states.

“Egypt and Saudi Arabia are the guarantee and fortification of the Arab nation as Egypt has the strongest army and Saudi Arabia has the strongest economy. Through these two powers, the two states will seek to support the Arab issues everywhere,” Gammal remarked.

Saudi Arabia and Egypt are highly influential countries in the Arab world and they have exerted many efforts to create a unified Arab force to confront regional security threats.

Riyadh has strongly backed President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi’s government after the 2013 mass protests, offering tens of billions of dollars in aid and fuel supplies. Egypt has supported Saudi Arabia in their efforts to neutralize Iran’s influence in the region.

“I have said it once and I will say it again, Gulf national security is Egyptian national security. I have faith in the wise and firm leadership of Saudi Arabia,” Sisi said on November 8, 2017.

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