General Kamal Hasan AliMr. Prime Minister, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen. Let me first thank you Prime Minister for your generous hospitality. It was particularly kind of you to go ahead with this lunch even though you have only very recently taken up your high office and—as I know from experience—must have many urgent matters to cope with. This is not my first visit to Egypt but I am struck once again by the tremendous sense of history, continuity and permanence. We in Britain are accustomed to think of ourselves as a people with a very long and distinguished history—as indeed we are. [end p1] But it gives one pause to be in your great country and to recall that the first encounter of the Celtic tribes of Britain with the Roman armies of Julius Caesar took place more than 1000 years after the reign of the great Pharoah Rameses II, himself a pretty much of a latecomer in terms of Egyptian history!
Indeed, Mr. Prime Minister, when I was preparing for this visit I discovered an interesting fact which underlines Egypt's stature both in history and in today's world. That great fount of all knowledge and wisdom the Encyclopaedia Britannica devotes more [end p2] pages to Egypt than any other country save the United States, that almost equally ancient civilisation China, and our two closest neighbours France and Germany.
We can both be very satisfied, I believe Mr. Prime Minister, with the way in which relations between Britain and Egypt have flourished in recent years. There is in Britain a deep respect for and interest in Egypt. One has only to think of the enormous interest which was generated by the Tutankhamun exhibition at the British Museum, and of the many distinguished Egyptians who [end p3] have become household names in Britain in recent years—men such as Mr Omar Sharif, and Mr Magdi Yacoub in the field of surgery.
This natural sympathy and admiration is of course greatly helped by the exchanges of visits. It was a particular pleasure to welcome in London last year your Defence Minister and this year not only President Mubarak himself, but also the Foreign Minister, the distinguished Speaker of your National Assembly—Dr Rifat Mahgoub—as well as the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Dr Mohammed Abdilleh. Our own Mr Speaker Weatherill has told me how [end p4] keenly he is looking forward to his visit to Cairo next year. And we hope Mr. Prime Minister, that you will soon do us the honour of a visit to London yourself.
But there are many other strands to our relations.
I know that the British Council, which I shall be visiting this afternoon, are very active in teaching English, which has become an essential skill, a key to progress, in so many areas.
The Royal Navy were proud to play their part in the [end p5] mine-hunting operations in the Gulf of Suez late last year—and I think I can say that they did it very well indeed. We are also glad that a British contingent plays its part in the essential work of the Sinai Multilateral Force and observers. Today you and I have signed the Aid Agreement for the Maghara coal mine which represents a further important step in our economic cooperation. And tomorrow we shall together unveil a plaque commemorating the joint efforts of Britain and Egypt on the Cairo Waste Water Scheme, one of Britain's biggest overseas aid commitments. [end p6] All this, Mr. Prime Minister adds up to an impressive and successful record of working together. And it will be my aim to see it continue and improve.
I should like, Mr Prime Minister, to wish you all success and to propose a toast to Anglo-Egyptian cooperation and its further strengthening in years to come.