In the midst of the redeployment of Australian troops in the Middle East, and the introduction of tougher counter-terrorism legislation, an Egyptian delegation of policy makers, journalists and civil society was in Melbourne to participate in the inaugural Australia Egypt Dialogue, hosted by La Trobe University’s Centre for Dialogue on Thursday and Friday of this week.
The Egyptian delegation was led by Egypt’s former foreign minister, Ambassador Mohamed El Oraby, who served as the second foreign minister after the toppling of Egypt’s former president Mubarak in 2011- in one of the most critical times of Egypt’s modern history.
The aim of the Dialogue, according to the director of the Centre for Dialogue, Professor Alberto Gomes, was “to bring together scholars, policy, opinion makers, captains of industry and others, from both countries concerned with the future prospects for regional and global cooperation, mindful of the strategic importance of the Middle East, and the powerful changes sweeping across the Arab world and beyond”.
The importance of Egypt in the region was recently acknowledged by the US Secretary of State, Mr John Kerry. During his recent visit to Cairo, Mr Kerry stated that “Egypt has a key role to play in countering Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria”.
The Egyptian group included Mohamed Sabreen from the Al-Ahram newspaper, the largest circulating newspaper in that country, Omar Metwally, Egypt’s former ambassador to Australia, Hafsa Halawa, lawyer and human rights activist and Ahmad Naguib, one of the leaders of the Egyptian Revolution – the head of the organising committee of the first sit in of Tahrir Square.
“In an age of monologue, acrimony and insecurity, the Australia Egypt Dialogue seeks to intervene with a real conversation that involves Australian and Egyptian decision and opinion makers about a country and a region we don’t fully understand and appreciate,” said Dr Michális S. Michael, deputy director of the Centre for Dialogue and the project’s leader.