Britain’s Prince Charles and his spouse, Camilla, have arrived in Cairo for the first time in 15 years, hoping to advertise tolerance and cement bilateral ties
CAIRO — Britain’s Prince Charles and his spouse, Camilla, arrived in Cairo on Thursday for the first time in 15 years, hoping to advertise tolerance and cement bilateral ties. The visit is a part of the royal couple’s first tour since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.
It can be their first visit to Egypt since the nation was rocked by a preferred rebellion in 2011 that was adopted by years of political turmoil.
After arrival in Cairo, the royal couple obtained a proper welcome by President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and his spouse, Intissar el-Sissi, on the presidential palace, earlier than assembly with high Muslim and Christian leaders. Under el-Sissi, a former common, Egypt has achieved a level of stability however the authorities has additionally overseen the biggest crackdown on political opposition in many years.
In their assembly, Charles and el-Sissi mentioned efforts to counter terrorism and extremism in addition to cooperation between the 2 nations in areas comparable to well being and better training, based on an announcement issued by el-Sissi’s workplace.
After a separate assembly with Camilla, Egypt’s first woman wrote on her Facebook web page that the 2 mentioned the Egyptian authorities’s efforts in direction of the empowerment of girls.
The royal couple then met with the Sunni Muslim world’s high spiritual authority, Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Mosque Ahmed al-Tayeb, in addition to with Archbishop of the Anglican Province of Alexandria Samy Fawzy.
After that, Charles headed to an interfaith reception at Al-Azhar Mosque, the oldest Sunni establishment in the Muslim world. He was additionally to satisfy with college students.
The Prince of Wales helped begin a U.Okay. tutorial scholarship program which permits Al Azhar students to pursue levels in Islamic research at British universities earlier than returning to Al-Azhar to work as college members. Launched in 2015, this system goals to advertise mutual understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims.
Last week, the British Ambassador Gareth Bayley wrote on Twitter that the their highnesses shall be discussing U.Okay.-Egypt cooperation on local weather change, spiritual tolerance and bilateral relations. Egypt has been chosen to host the U.N. local weather change convention COP27 subsequent 12 months.
While Charles was on the interfaith reception, Camilla visited a low-income settlement in Cairo, Ezbet Kheirallah, the place the British Council has been finishing up social improvement packages since 2017.
The royals have been additionally anticipated to visit a few of Egypt’s well-known archaeological websites, together with the Pyramids at Giza.
Earlier this week, Charles and Camilla concluded a three-day visit to Jordan, the place they met with Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Queen Rania and visited a collection of spiritual and historic websites.
