19 June 2008…

Assistant Foreign Minister for Latin American relations, Hatem Seif El Nasr toured five countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, upon the directives of Foreign Minister, Aboul Gheit. The Ambassador delivered messages from the foreign minister to his counterparts in those countries and held political consultation rounds with several officials there to explore enhancing the various aspects of cooperation. A number of mutual cooperation agreements were also signed as well. The Assistant Foreign Minister's visit comes in light of the great momentum witnessed in Egyptian- Latin relations.

The tour first started with Cuba, where Ambassador Seif El Nasr headed the round of political consultations between the Foreign Ministries within the framework of the non- alignment Troika which will be presided by Egypt next year. The visit, which comes after the first round of the joint committee was held between Egypt and Cuba, is the Ambassador's second visit to the country. An Agreement on mutual exemption of Diplomatic visas was signed between Egypt and Cuba, at the end of the visit.

Ambassador Seif El Nasr travelled afterwards to the Dominican, where he held intense political consultations to promote bilateral relations and enhance the mutual agreement framework between Egypt and the Dominicans. The two sides expressed their willingness to promote all aspects of their bilateral relations.

In Costa Rica, whose Embassy was transferred from Jerusalem to Tel –Aviv in 2006, The Ambassador held important consultations which tackled the Egyptian Costa Rican perspectives regarding the most significant issues regionally and internationally in light of Costa- Rica's membership in the Security Council. Two Agreements were signed between both countries, the first on the establishment of a political consultation mechanism between their Foreign Ministries and the second on cooperation between the Diplomatic institutes of both countries.

The Ambassador's visit to Salvador is the first for an Egyptian official since relations were restored between both countries in September 2006. Egypt decided to restore its relations with Salvador, following the latter's decision to transfer its embassy from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. The visit included signing a memorandum of political consultations, and offered four grants to Salvador from the Egyptian International Center for Agriculture (EICA).

Ambassador Seif El Nasr concluded his tour by visiting Guatemala, as the two sides agreed on the importance of promoting cooperation between both countries, and working to find opportunities for exchanging visits between members of the Chambers of commerce and industry in two countries. The Guatemalan sides asked to be acquainted with Egypt's expertise in Agriculture and tourism.

Ambassador Seif El Nasr discussed the exchanged support for candidacy in various international groupings, particularly with Latin America being a significant international voting bloc (22 countries). In this respect, the nomination of the Egyptian Minister of Culture, Farouk Hosni captured the attention of all countries visited.