Egypt’s Amba ssador: “Granting Of 40,000 Visas To Algerians Within A Year”

Ambassador Ayman Mosharafa, Egypt’s Ambassador in Algeria, affirmed that the year 2019 witnessed distinguished relations between the two brotherly countries in all fields of endeavor, expressing hope to shore up these bilateral relations during the upcoming year 2020.

Ambassador Mosharafa told the Middle East News Agency in Algeria, that in 2019, he witnessed the visit of the Algerian acting Head of the State, Abdelkader Bensalah, to Egypt, and it was his first foreign visit, to attend the final of the African Nations Cup, where he met President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and discussed bilateral relations. Algeria was President El Sisi’s first foreign stop over visit after his election in 2014.

His Excellency Mr. Mosharafa added that Egyptian President El Sisi was one of the first to warmly congratulate President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on his victory in the presidential elections that took place on December 12th 2019, and President El Sisi was also keen to offer condolences after the death of Lieutenant General Ahmed Gaid Salah, Deputy Minister of National Defense and Chief of Staff of the ANP Army, and to send a high-level delegation to attend the funeral of the deceased headed by Lieutenant-General Sidqi Sobhi, the assistant to the president for defense affairs, included 5 senior officers of the Egyptian armed forces.

He pointed out that the Egyptian embassy issued during the year 2019 about 40 thousand visas to Algerian citizens to visit Egypt, adding that the embassy worked 24 hours a day for more than a week to issue visas to the numerous Algerian fans to attend the African Nations Cup of Nations’ matches that Egypt hosted last summer.

Regarding the volume of trade exchanges recorded between the two countries, Ambassador Ayman Mosharafa indicated that during the period from January to September 2019, Egyptian exports to Algeria amounted to 434 million dollars, while Egyptian exports to Algeria except hydrocarbons amounted to 433 million dollars, while Egyptian imports from Algeria reached 193 million dollars, while expressing hope for scaling up the volume of trade exchanges between the two brotherly countries during 2020.

Ambassador Mosharafa finally expressed his wish to further boost bilateral relations and bolster cooperation between Egypt and Algeria in all sectors of activity during the course of the year 2020.