EGYPT JUNE 21: Egypt has decided to inoculate all foreigners including 8,000 Malaysian students currently in the country and Malaysia is also reciprocating this initiative by extending it to Egyptians in Malaysia.
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said, he also took the opportunity to thank his counterpart Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sameh Shoukry in helping to bring back 6,600 Malaysians home in the early days of the pandemic when borders were shut across the world.
Hishammuddin said, on COVID-19, both Malaysia and Egypt agreed to collaborate in promoting a sustained post-pandemic recovery, specifically on vaccine cooperation.This is an area of interest to Malaysia as Egypt produces SINOVAC vaccines locally for domestic use and for export to the rest of Africa.
“This is an avenue for us to explore collaboration in development and vaccine production between both our countries in the future. Additionally we discussed on mutual recognition of vaccination certificates and this is important for tourism, business and education travel,” he said here today.
Hishammuddin was on his working visit to Egypt after attending the Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Turkey yesterday.
Earlier Hishammuddin said, Malaysia and Egypt will cooperate in areas of COVID-19, trade, investment, education, tourism and religious affairs and robust collaborations at multilateral platforms.
On reinvigorating ties, he has extended an invitation to Minister Shoukry to visit Malaysia to reconvene the Joint Commission Meeting (JCM) mechanism which will be co-chaired by Shoukry and him.
“The last Ministerial level JCM was held in Cairo in 2008. We have also agreed for our Senior Officials to convene the inaugural Bilateral Consultation (BC) before Minister Shoukry’s upcoming visit.
“The BC will undertake a thorough assessment of where we are in our collaboration, explore avenues for intensification including identifying area of deliberation for both Ministers to agree,” Hishammuddin said.
Hishammuddin added, on economic cooperation, Egypt is the biggest importer of Malaysian palm oil in the African region. Both have agreed to intensify efforts to bring more Malaysian palm oil based products into Egypt’s market.
On Palestine issue, Hishammuddin said, Malaysia appreciates the leadership role assumed by Egypt including dedicating resources in support of the Palestinian cause.
“This is in particular, Egypt’s critical role in brokering an immediate ceasefire agreement between Palestine and Israel in Gaza, which came into effect on 21st May 2021. The ceasefire is important in providing the much-needed respite from hostilities and violence against the Palestinians in Gaza following aggressions by the Israel Occupation Forces.
“From the discussions today, Malaysia and Egypt will cooperate to channel Malaysia’s humanitarian and medical assistance including that from Malaysian non-governmental organisation (NGOs) to Palestinians in Gaza through Rafah Border Crossing,” Hishammuddin said. –Malaysia World News
