13 July, 2008….

Assistant Minister, Ambassador Rauf Saad, held the last meeting of the (Asian Middle East Dialogue) AMED Committee at the level of the ambassadors accredited in Cairo. The meeting, which aims at handing the presidency of the Dialogue to the Thai ambassador, is the last to be held under Egypt's chairmanship of the dialogue's steering committee.

Ambassador Saad delivered, on this occasion, two copies of the dialogue's work plan which was prepared by Egypt for implementation during 2008 and 2009 in Arabic and English.

Ambassador Rauf Saad expressed the satisfaction of the Egyptian presidency regarding the achievement of such plan as the outcome of initiatives and propositions that had been presented during the Second Ministerial conference for Dialogue in Sharm el-Sheikh, April 5th and 6th, 2008 and proposals of the dialogue member states after the meeting. He highlighted the implementation of such plan as an  unprecedented achievement in activating international and regional cooperation, pointing out that we could fulfill the aspired aims of our the societies of our countries as well as the  citizens' interest through the political will of governments, the participation of private sector as well as non-governmental activists.

The possibility of launching cooperation between Asia and the Middle East towards new horizons and paving the way towards diversifying fields of cooperation that benefit our states and societies was foretold in the vast response of several Egyptian ministries and governmental institutions to organize and sponsor several vital activities of the dialogue, not to mention the response of many member states.

The Thai Ambassador praised the Egyptian initiative in rendering the outcomes of Sharm el-Sheikh meeting an executive work plan by which the dialogue between the two sides became on the threshold of a new qualitative stage, under which Thailand was charged with the precise following up and spared no effort for development and adding new fields of cooperation that would suit today's changes and consecutive developments.