Hague in Cairo to discuss economic opportunities

The Egyptian Foreign Minister, Mohammed Kamel Amr, held a bilateral session with his British counterpart, William Hague who is currently visiting Cairo. The discussions tackled to the common issues between the two countries, especially the file of returning the fund of the former regime from Britain — as well as investment opportunities available for the British companies in Egypt. The session also involved talks about regional and international issues with mutual interest, particularly the situation in Syria and the efforts exerted by Egypt. The Minister reviewed the results of the Cairo meeting between officials from Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Iran — which is considered the first actual move on behalf of Egypt. William Hague declared that there is great attention towards the huge economical opportunities available in Egypt, confirming that Britain wants to help and support Egypt to use all possible chances. He pointed out: “We discussed many issues related to foreign affairs, especially the Syrian situation.” Hague further expressed his keenness to meet the Egyptian President, Mohamed Morsi. Amr stated that they discussed returning Egyptian money that was smuggled to Britain. He emphasised that Britain is ready to cooperate in respect to this, in addition to the extradition file. As for the Syrian file, Amr mentioned that this issue was discussed with the British secretary and he was briefed on the Egyptian initiative. Amr added: “I hope there will be a meeting between the ministries of the four countries participating in the special meetings about the Syrian crisis.” For his part, the British Foreign Secretary, William Hague, announced that the British government shall send experts’ delegation to Egypt to cooperate in returning the Egyptian frozen funds in Britain. During a lecture on the British government’s support to entrepreneurship at the British embassy in Cairo, Hague said: “In the coming few weeks, we will send British experts to follow up on the Egyptian frozen funds case. We call for cooperation as no side can work individually.” The British secretary stressed that he is looking forward to working with the Egyptian President Morsi and the Ministries of the Egyptian government, in order to support the political and economical transition process in Egypt and enhance commercial relations between the two countries. As for his talks with the President Morsi, Hague said: “We will tackle how the United Kingdom can support and back the transitional process in Egypt and ways to strengthen trade relations between the two countries. We look forward to helping the Egyptians and supporting their government in the economical field through British projects in Egypt that shall pump billions of Dollars.”