Several heads and officials of United Nations agencies in Egypt today took part in
the opening of a seminar organised jointly by the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and Cairo University’s Faculty of Economics and Political Science (FEPS)
on the role and contribution of Egypt to UN bodies and their activities. The two-
day debate which began on 5 December at the Faculty’s campus brought together
prominent Egyptian diplomats and political science scholars.
In a keynote speech, First Undersecretary of the Foreign Ministry Ambassador
Ayman Kamel cited Egypt’s role in issuing a UN Security Council resolution on
medical care in armed conflicts, and pointed to its initiative in the Council to hold
a ministerial discussion on “combating terrorist messages and ideologies in order
to give the intellectual and ideological aspect the highest attention and greatest
efforts in the fight against terrorism.” The discussion was conducted during
Egypt’s chairmanship of the Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee. He also
noted that Egypt now has about 3,000 personnel in UN peacekeeping missions,
making it one of the world’s top ten troop-contributing countries and number one
in the Arab World.
Participants were also addressed by the UN Resident Coordinator in Egypt El-
Mostafa Benlamlih who pointed to Egypt’s membership in the UN Security
Council for the fifth time since its inception and to its recently-won membership in
the UN Human Rights Council. He praised Egypt’s launch this year of its
Sustainable Development Strategy – Egypt Vision 2030 – and underlined the
“UN’s full commitment to support the country in its implementation and
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achievement of that strategy.” The UN official pointed out that Egypt was one of
the first countries volunteering to review its efforts to achieve sustainable
development in a New York meeting last July, praising “the significant progress
Egypt has made in empowering women and fighting female genital mutilation” and
in other areas.
In an introductory statement, the Dean of FEPS Dr Hala Elsaid revealed that the
Faculty will launch a research unit dedicated to the UN and peacekeeping, which
will focus on academic research about peacekeeping issues and conflicts, and on
how to activate the UN’s role in peacekeeping and conflict-resolution, and the role
expected of Egypt in peacekeeping. The unit will be producing “policy papers that
could help UN operatives in their work in Egypt.”
The Secretary General of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador
Mounir Zahran, also addressed the audience. He raised several questions which he
urged the seminar to tackle. Among them, for example, was a question regarding
the UN Charter’s fifth chapter on the Security Council that “had reflected the
balance of power in 1945, but has changed over the past 71 years. Isn’t it time to
adjust this existing imbalance?” he asked.
The seminar reviewed such items as Egypt’s contribution to international peace
and security, and issues of international law, the fight against terrorism and
organised crime. They also included the country’s inputs into UN development
activities and the work of international specialised agencies, as well as its
contribution to the UN’s programmatic budgets, its role in the face of global
economic and environmental challenges and climate change, in addition to
Egyptian nominations for positions with international organisations.
Watani International
9 December 2016