Egyptian envoy discusses with Vatican officials bilateral cooperation

Egyptian Ambassador to Vatican Hatem el Nasr had talks on Saturday with President of the Vatican Pontifical Council for Culture Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi on means of enhancing cultural cooperation.

Ravasi hailed Egypt's efforts in combating terror and extremism, underlining Egypt's key cultural role on the Arab and Islamic arenas.

The talks also tackled fostering bilateral relations and means of benefiting from Egypt-Vatican cultural exchange to spread the culture of respecting the other and rejecting extremism and bigotry, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a press release on Saturday.

The ambassador also had talks with Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, the President of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue, on means of fostering cooperation among Vatican and Egyptian religious institutions.

Tauran lauded the Egyptian efforts for fighting extremism, terror and religious bigotry.

Tauran extolled Azhar efforts to spread moderate Islamic thought.