Tuesday, 26 April 2011
Egypt's Prime Minister Dr. Essam Sharaf talks to reporters in Riyadh. (File photo)
In the wake of an unexpected postponement of his visit to the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf States, Prime Minister Essam Sharaf of Egypt said that there was no tension in relations between his country and the UAE. He also said the security of the Gulf Cooperation Council states was a “red line” for Egypt.
In a statement following his talks in Riyadh with King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia, Mr. Sharaf said: “There is no problem between Egypt and the UAE, and my visit will be rescheduled later.”
The Egyptian prime minister, who is currently is a multi-leg tour in the Gulf, said that he would also schedule another visit to Oman and Bahrain.
Mr. Sharaf was speaking after the postponement of his visit to the UAE; but he reaffirmed that the security of GCC countries is part of Egypt’s security.
The Egyptian prime minister described Egypt-GCC relations as follows: “We have historic relations with the GCC countries and interference in their domestic affairs is a red line.”
Speaking of rapprochement with Iran with whom Egypt has renewed diplomatic links after a gap of 30 years, Mr. Sharaf said: “We want to turn a new page in our relations with Iran, but do not accept interference in GCC’s domestic affairs.”
The Egyptian Ambassador to the UAE, Tamer Mansour, meanwhile, told Al Arabiya that the relations between the two countries are very strong. “A new visit for the Egyptian prime minister to the UAE is currently being prepared for,” he said.
On its part, the UAE officially denied imposing any kind of restrictions on the visas granted to Egyptian citizens.
UAE’s Ambassador to Egypt, Mohammed bin Nakhira al-Zaheri, who is also UAE’s permanent representative to the Cairo-based Arab League, denied as “rumors” the presence of any tension in the relationship between his country and Egypt.
Mr. Zaheri said that the Egypt-UAE relationship was and will always be “a special, successful and distinguished model of the inter-Arab relations.” He said that Mr. Sharaf's visit to the UAE was not cancelled, but it had been postponed to a more suitable date.
(Farrag Ismail of Al Arabiya can be reached via email at: farrag.ismail@mbc.net; Abdullah al-Mutawaa, also of Al Arabiya, can be reached at: Abdulla.ahmed@mbc.net, and Abeer Tayel of Al Arabiya can be reached at: abeer.tayel@mbc.net)
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