Abou El-Enein to heads of delegations from more than 30 European countries:
• President El-Sisi leads de-escalation efforts in the Middle East… Egyptian-European consensus on rejecting escalation
• Egypt plays a pivotal role in easing tensions and restoring stability to the Middle East.
• President El-Sisi is conducting shuttle tours and making major efforts with all parties to contain the Iranian crisis.
• The world is going through a difficult time and decisive moments… and power has become the means to achieve the objectives of some countries.
• The current crises of the Iranian war will affect all countries… and will reach every home in the world.
• The occupation is the root of the Palestinian cause, not the October 7 attacks — “a people’s cause.”
• Egypt played a major role in achieving a ceasefire in Gaza in the presence of world leaders in Sharm El-Sheikh.
• Egypt can serve as a bridge to the African market… and we need a vision that brings together Europe’s expertise and Africa’s potential.
• Egypt is opening its doors to foreign direct investment… and bears the burden of hosting 10 million guests on its land.
MP Mohamed Abou El-Enein, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean, affirmed that Egypt plays a pivotal role in easing tensions between the United States, Israel, and Iran, and in restoring stability to the Middle East region, whether with regard to the current developments in the Iranian crisis or the situation in Palestine. He pointed out that Egypt is exerting major efforts to support negotiations among the various parties, praising the intensive diplomatic efforts and shuttle visits carried out by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to the Gulf states, and his communication with various international parties to contain the crisis, within the framework of the major efforts led by Egypt, Pakistan, and Türkiye to prevent the widening of the circle of conflict in the region and to support negotiations among the various parties, hoping to reach a solution that would spare the world a major international crisis. He stressed that any escalation in the region, especially if energy infrastructure or vital corridors are exposed to danger, will affect the entire world, and the crisis will reach everyone and every home in the world.
MP Mohamed Abou El-Enein, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean, explained to the heads of delegations of more than 30 countries — during his speech at the Three Seas Initiative Conference, located between “the Baltic, the Adriatic, and the Black Sea,” which was held in Zagreb, Croatia, and includes 13 countries, all of them members of the European Union — that the roots of the problem between Palestine and Israel are not October 7 or the recent years, but rather an occupation issue extending for many long years, a people’s cause whose homeland is being taken away from it, and this is the essence of the crisis, and that the only solution to this first issue in the Middle East is the two-state solution.
Abou El-Enein pointed out that Egypt played a major role in reaching a ceasefire in Sharm El-Sheikh, when more than 30 leaders of countries gathered in Egypt and the Egyptian and international efforts succeeded in stopping the war, but there is still much that needs to be done.
The President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean affirmed that the world is going through a very difficult period — turmoil, tension, and changes in the language of dialogue among countries — where power has become the means used to achieve objectives. Therefore, he said, he is pleased to participate in this conference because it speaks about the future, vision, partnership, and responsibility among our countries, stating: “Our world is living a very important moment that requires us to understand our future well and to cooperate for the future of our countries and our children.”
Abou El-Enein said: “I have participated in more than one hundred meetings about the strong relations between Europe and Africa, and each time we heard that we want to do… and we want to do… but we did not place before our eyes the experiences of others — experiences of countries that set a clear vision, promoted it, made peoples believe in it, and then set policies and legislation that support this vision. The time has now come to benefit from these experiences. When China launched its major Silk Road project, it did not suffice with the announcement, but marketed the project, built friendly relations with countries, and provided financing, so the project succeeded. There are similar experiences, and through the initiatives of the European Commission and the European Union in cooperation with Egypt — especially with the development of relations and the level of strategic partnership between Egypt and Europe — Egypt can play a very major role between the North and the South, and can contribute to solving many of the existing crises.”
The President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean continued: “Egypt can also play an important economic role for European-African cooperation, and can serve as a bridge to the African market, which includes 54 countries within the African Union. But today we are in need of a clear vision for the future and new initiatives that bring together Europe’s expertise and Africa’s capabilities — a vision that we can present to future generations, and that determines what the relationship between the North and the South will look like. Talking about vision, responsibility, and partnership is an important title for the future, and supporting this vision with new legislation and investment initiatives, with the participation of the private sector alongside governments, to be implemented soon, in order to build a better and stronger future for our countries and peoples.”
MP Mohamed Abou El-Enein also invited the participants in the Three Seas Initiative Conference to attend the meetings of the Parliament of the Union for the Mediterranean countries, which will be held in Cairo on July 3 with the participation of 43 countries, to discuss the issues of the region and European-African cooperation. He affirmed that Egypt today is opening its doors to foreign direct investment, and at the same time bears great burdens, as it hosts about 10 million people as guests on its land, who are refugees, which costs Egypt about 10 billion dollars annually, in addition to the losses it suffers due to the crises in the region, the decrease in revenues due to the regional situation, and the loss of billions of dollars every year because of wars and global crises.
On the sidelines of the Three Seas Initiative in Croatia, MP Mohamed Abou El-Enein, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean, expressed his happiness with the meeting that brought him together with Ms. Dubravka Šuica, the European Union Commissioner for Mediterranean Affairs. The meeting addressed ways to enhance cooperation and constructive work between the two sides, especially in the fields of education, training, and youth capacity-building, in addition to exchanging views on developments in regional and international conditions. Both sides affirmed the importance of avoiding military escalation in the region and the need to prioritize political and diplomatic solutions to preserve the security and stability of the region and the world.
During the meeting, Abou El-Enein also praised the positive steps taken by the European Union to enhance and upgrade the level of relations with Egypt to the level of a strategic partnership, stressing the importance of building on this momentum to support the partnership between the two sides.
For her part, European Commissioner Dubravka Šuica expressed her appreciation for the Egyptian role in de-escalation efforts in the Middle East region, affirming that the movements and diplomatic efforts led by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi played an important role in containing tensions and preventing the widening of escalation in the region, praising the constructive role played by Egypt in supporting regional stability and enhancing cooperation in the Mediterranean region.
