"Your Excellency, Mrs. Samia Hassan, President of the United Republic of Tanzania,
It gives me great pleasure to welcome you and your accompanying delegation in your second homeland, Egypt, on your first visit to Cairo.
I would like to seize this opportunity to express my pride in the brotherly relations and the longstanding, historic and firm bonds which are based on a joint political will that aims to not only maintain these relations but also to strengthen and further advance them across various areas in the coming period.
Today, I held fruitful bilateral talks with her Excellency, President Samia Hassan. Our discussions were dominated by a spirit of understanding and mutual coordination with regard to a multitude of bilateral and regional issues of mutual interest. We shared a political will to usher in a new phase of partnership relations that the two countries share and build on important achievements that have been realized over the past years, particularly since my last visit to Dar El Salam in August, 2017.
Our efforts to boost cooperation in the economic and development fields between the two countries have received special interest in our discussions today. I underscored Egypt’s position in support of Tanzania’s development plans for the sake of achieving progress and development in the United Republic of Tanzania. I would also like to reiterate Egypt’s preparedness to cooperate on transferring Egyptian expertise and providing technical support, in addition to enhancing the capacities of Tanzanian national cadres through training courses, presented by several Egyptian agencies, primarily the Egyptian Agency of Partnership for Development.
We also agreed on the importance of leveraging our capabilities to serve the interests of our two countries, through increasing trade, which we hope will witness more growth in the coming years to promote the level of the outstanding political relations between our countries. We also deliberated on mechanisms to boost Egyptian investments in Tanzania and ways to facilitate the work of Egyptian companies seeking to have a presence in the Tanzanian market, particularly in light of the growing interest of the Egyptian business community in recent years to invest in the Tanzanian market, building on the success achieved by the Egyptian companies currently operating in Tanzania. This represents the best evidence for the ongoing momentum in our bilateral relations and the enormous potential that can be utilized to enhance cooperation between our two countries.
I would also like to stress our full support for the implementation of the Julius Nyerere dam construction project to achieve the highest levels of performance and meet the highest construction standards. Hence, this dam would become a leading exemplar and a symbol of cooperation and friendship between Egypt and Tanzania as well as all brotherly African countries, especially as the completion of this national project would help realize the hopes and aspirations of the brotherly Tanzanian people for a better life.
This project is also indicative of the Egyptian support for the rights of the Nile Basin countries in ensuring optimal water resource utilization in a manner that does not negatively affect the rights and capabilities of other countries.
Furthermore, we exchanged views on a number of current regional and international issues of common interest. We also addressed the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam-related developments, an existential issue that affects the lives of millions of Egyptians. I stressed the necessity of reaching a legally-binding agreement regulating the filling and operation of the dam based on the rules of international law and the relevant outcomes of the Security Council and rejecting any unilateral approach that seeks to impose a fait accompli and ignore the basic rights of peoples. I also affirmed that we seek to make the River Nile a source of cooperation and development as it is a lifeline for all the peoples of the Nile Basin countries.
Your Excellency President Samia Hassan,
It was a pleasure to meet you today and see a convergence of views between our two countries on many issues. I look forward to closely furthering our bilateral cooperation for the common interest of our two countries and our African continent. I wish the sisterly United Republic of Tanzania the greatest good, enduring stability and lasting prosperity; I once again extend my welcome to Your Excellency and your accompanying delegation in your second country, Egypt.
Thank you.”