Havana, Saturday, June 5, 2010. Year 14 / Number 157

Cuba-Egypt: Historic Relations of Friendship

Juan Diego Nusa Peñalver

A CubaNews translation by Mary Todd.
Edited by Walter Lippmann.

Cuba and Egypt have developed close relations, especially since the triumph of the Revolution on January 1, 1959. Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz and Gamal Abdel Nasser, the outstanding Egyptian leader who was President of that country from 1954 until his death in 1970, were good friends.

EZZAT SAAD ELSAYED AL BORAI, DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER OF EGYPT, SAID THAT EGYPT’S TOP-LEVEL POLITICAL TIES WITH CUBA WOULD BE CONTINUED.

The Egyptian Deputy Foreign Minister has just concluded a fruitful working visit to Cuba. Among other things, he brought “a written message from Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit to Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, his colleague and brother.”

In his interview with Granma, Ezzat Saad Elsayed Al Borai said that the message was related to Egypt’s and Cuba’s bilateral relations and reaffirmed Cairo’s strong desire to continue its contacts with Havana and to develop their bilateral cooperation in all possible spheres.

Another of the purposes of his visit was “to engage in consultations with the Cubans about regional and international topics of common interest. Cuba is a member of the three-member steering committee of the Non-Aligned Movement, of which Egypt became President last year,” he said.

“I would like to express Egypt’s appreciation for the decisive work that Cuba did as President of the Movement between 2006 and 2009, implementing a realistic agenda of topics of interest to the non-aligned countries—which has made Egypt’s task very easy.”

He said that all of the Movement’s problems were tackled by means of full coordination, giving as an example the Conference of Parties that will meet in New York this year to examine the Non-Proliferation Treaty on nuclear weapons and the defense of a new international economic and financial order.

He pointed out that the world economic crisis had reaffirmed how mistaken it was to leave the world economic and financial system in the hands of a single country, because any conflict of an economic of financial nature would always—inevitably—have effects on the rest of the world.

On returning to the bilateral relations between Cuba and Egypt that were established at the diplomatic level on September 5, 1949, he said, “We have several scholarships in the spheres of agriculture and higher education that we offer to Cuba, and we make use of the opportunities that Cuba offers us in this field, as well.

“I am very pleased that the Egyptian private sector has begun to explore the possibilities of trading with Cuba,” he added.

Concerning the US Government’s economic blockade against Cuba, the Cairo representative spoke in no uncertain terms. “Egypt’s position is very clear and firm. We have always called for the lifting of the blockade against Cuba, because there isn’t any justification for that measure,” Ezzat Saad said, adding that Egypt takes every available opportunity to reiterate this position.