Gold Magazine September - October 2013, Issue 30 | Seite 54

interview

a national programme through independent
national committees with the aim of achieving
long-lasting national reconciliation, as well as
establishing an independent blue ribbon commission to look into the events following June
30, 2013.

to this matter with Cyprus at a technical level. I
strongly believe that the discovery of natural gas
in the Eastern Mediterranean should be used
positively towards reaching peace and prosperity in the region rather than towards causing
conflict.

Gold: Cyprus and Egypt have had good
relations for many years. What kind of
mutual trade goes on between the two countries? Is there room for improvement?
H.E.: Egypt and Cyprus have enjoyed excellent bilateral relations in all fields for many
decades. Needless to say, outstanding political
relations between the two countries should
be reflected in the level of their economic and
trade cooperation. Unfortunately, this is not
the case with Egypt and Cyprus, and that’s
why both sides should exert tireless efforts to
increase their mutual trade which, in 2012,
stood at some €50 million only. With this
in mind, the prospects for cooperation and
areas in which it is possible should be explored
and widened, through the holding of joint
seminars, workshops, exchange visits and
greater engagement on the part of the business
communities in both Egypt and Cyprus.

Gold: Another common factor between the
two countries is tourism, which brings considerable income to them. How badly has
the recent situation affected tourism to the
country? Obviously Cairo is out of bounds
for now but Sharm el Sheikh, for instance,
appears unaffected. Is this the case?
H.E.: Undoubtedly the recent situation has
affected the Egyptian tourism industry with
arrivals and occupancy rates slowing down.
Nevertheless, Egypt is working diligently in all
spheres to restore order all over the country,
with a view to stabilizing the situation and helping attract and increase the number of foreign
tourists visiting Egypt. I can assure you that the
tourist resorts on the Red Sea have not been
affected at all by what is going on in Egypt, and
I invite all Cypriots to continue visiting such
areas to discover the beauty of Egypt’s beaches.

Gold: Cyprus and Egypt now have perhaps
more in common than before, following the
discovery of natural gas deposits in Cyprus’
Exclusive Economic Zone. There have been
various reports suggesting that Egypt wishes
to cancel the agreement on the maritime
borders of the countries. Can you shed
some official light on this matter?
H.E.: Egypt remains committed to the agreement on the maritime borders with Cyprus.
The discovery of the hydrocarbon reserves in
Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone makes it
even more important to consolidate cooperation between the two countries in the field of
energy, and especially regarding the exploration
and exploitation of natural gas. We are currently discussing some agreements pertaining

Gold: Assuming that peace returns to
Egypt and Cyprus manages to overcome its
economic problems, what would be your
wishes for the two countries, separately and
together?
H.E.: I am not only confident that peace and
economic prosperity will return to Egypt and
Cyprus but also that these two great nations
will manage to come out of these challenging
situations stronger and wiser. I am looking
forward to maintaining excellent relations
between the governments and the peoples
of Egypt and Cyprus, taking into account
that our relations date back to ancient times
through the great Mediterranean. I sincerely
hope that our people-to-people exchanges and
our intercultural communication will increase
to the benefit of the two countries.

THE DISCOVERY OF NATURAL
GAS IN THE EASTERN
MEDITERRANEAN SHOULD BE
USED POSITIVELY TOWARDS
REACHING PEACE AND
PROSPERITY IN THE REGION
50 Gold THE INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT, FINANCE & PROFESSIONAL SERVICES MAGAZINE OF CYPRUS

30 MONTHS
OF TURMOIL &

UPHEAVAL IN EGYPT
2011
February11: President Hosni Mubarak
steps down in response to massive
demonstrations and the military takes over.
It dissolves parliament and suspends the
constitution, meeting two key demands of
protesters.
November 28: Egypt starts multi-stage,
weeks-long parliamentary elections. The
Muslim Brotherhood wins nearly half the
seats in the lower house.
2012
May 23-24: The first round of voting in
presidential elections has a field of 13
candidates. The Muslim Brotherhood’s
Mohammed Morsi and Ahmed Shafiq, the
last prime minister under Mubarak, emerge
as the top two and will face each other in a
runoff.
June 16-17: Morsi wins with 51.7% of the
vote.
June 30: Morsi takes the oath of office.
November 22: Morsi unilaterally decrees
greater powers for himself, giving his
decisions immunity from judicial review
and barring the courts from dissolving the
constituent assembly and the upper house
of parliament. The move sparks days of
protests.
November 30: Morsi sets a December 15
date for a referendum.
December 4: More than 100,000 protesters
march on the presidential palace, demanding the cancellation of the referend [H[