Ambassador Serenade Gamil says Armenia–Egypt relations are experiencing golden era

According to Ambassador of Egypt to Armenia Serenade Soliman Gamil, relations between Armenia and Egypt are deep and historical, which is reflected not only in bilateral political and economic ties but also in the strengthening of people-to-people relations day by day. According to the Ambassador, Armenia and Egypt are currently experiencing a golden era in their relations, an era that inspires hope that further expansion and deepening of bilateral cooperation is only a matter of time.

In an interview with Armenpress, the ambassador also addressed the situation in the South Caucasus, particularly Egypt’s position on the ongoing negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan aimed at achieving peace, the potential unblocking of regional infrastructure, the centuries-old friendship between the Armenian and Egyptian peoples, and other issues.

- Ms. Ambassador, how would you assess the current political level of relations between the Arab Republic of Egypt and the Republic of Armenia? What important aspects would you highlight in this regard? 

-Thank you for inviting me for this interview. I am so pleased to have this discussion with you.

I always follow Armenpress, and we are so proud of the work of Armenpress here. I'm so pleased to have this discussion with you. Of course, our relations are very deep and historical.

Added to these historical relations, we had a great momentum since the visit of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi to Armenia in January 2023. This visit was putting new directions to enhance our relations in a modern, deeper way. So adding to our historical way, we have new momentum since this historical visit of President Sisi to Armenia.

He met with His Excellency President Khachaturyan and with His Excellency Prime Minister Pashinyan, with a very big delegation of ministers coming to enhance all fields of cooperation with Armenia and to revive all the important fields that we have to enhance together as two friend states, two historical friend states. It was a very, very important visit. In this visit, we witnessed signing of documents between the two countries in different fields of technology, youth and culture, education, investments.

So all these fields are so much needed for our relations to be more solid and more deep and to benefit from this high-level visit of President Sisi to Armenia. Followed by this was the invitation of President Sisi to Prime Minister Pashinyan to go to Egypt. We prepared this visit also to go to Egypt with a very important delegation also of businessmen.

And it was on March 2024, a very historical visit also. Prime Minister Pashinyan announced in this visit, while meeting with President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi, that Armenia is endorsing Mr. Khaled al-Anani, our candidate to be director of UNESCO. It was so much appreciated from the Egyptian side to have this endorsement during the visit of Prime Minister Pashinyan.

In addition, we witnessed the signature of very important memorandums in many fields, in economic fields, because economy now is very, very important to our countries. We are both countries who are working hard to have better economy, to have solid economy, and we have experience to share together.

We also signed this important memorandum in Egypt, along with others in the field of environmental protection. Armenia is highly advanced in renewable and solar energy, as is Egypt. This creates numerous opportunities for cooperation that can benefit both our peoples.

-         You spoke about the visits. And actually my second question was about the visit of the Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to Egypt in March, 2024 and about his meeting with the  President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi. You have also mentioned the documents that were signed between the two delegates. In this regard,how do you assess the relations between the two countries in different fields of cooperation, and what these visits can give to the two countries and to the two nations?

-          A very important question, you know, because our nations, our countries are always benefiting from a very solid relation, political relation. Egypt was among the first countries who opened an embassy in Armenia in 1992, after the independence in 1991.

Egypt is endorsing Armenia from the very beginning of independence from the Soviet Union. So we benefit from very historical, deep historical relations. You know, Armenians, they came to Egypt after the event of 1915.

They fled to Egypt and Egypt welcomed them. Armenians in Egypt contribute very much in the Egyptian society on the political level, on the artistic level. Of course, Armenian arts is known in Egypt.

So, even before that, when we go back to the 19th century, when Muhammad Ali created modern Egypt, he nominated an Armenian, Nubar Pasha, to be his prime minister. He was the first prime minister of Egypt. So it is a very deep relationship that we have-our two nations, two countries, and two peoples-the Armenian people and the Egyptian people.

Building on these wonderful historical ties, we also had the historic visit of President Sisi to Armenia. He was the first president of Egypt to visit Armenia. So it was like commemorating all the historical relations through this visit, giving new momentum to our relations. This visit was very symbolic, showing that the Egyptian president is giving Armenia an important place in his agenda.

It reflects how deeply we appreciate our historical friendship. I was very lucky to prepare for this visit. I arrived here in November 2022, and the visit took place in January 2023.

So I think I was the luckiest ambassador to be in Armenia during President Sisi's visit, and also the luckiest one to prepare the visit of His Excellency Pashinyan to Egypt in March and all the documents that we signed together.

We are now living, I would say, in the golden period of our relations because we are exchanging a lot in all fields. We will work hard to get the maximum benefit from these high-level visits.

-         How would you evaluate the economic links between the two sides? And what was the volume of trade in last year, 2024?  What trends are seen in the bilateral exports or imports markets?

-          You know, I like this question very much because it is the practical question. When we have high level meetings on the level of President Sisi and Prime Minister Pashinyan, this gave us a very good opportunity to enhance our investment relations and our economic relations. To be honest, the trade relations were not very flourishing because of the distance between the two countries.

And also, Armenia is landlocked. So for trade people, they think  about money. Think about money and how to make benefit from it. But we have overcome this problem. We have  started to enhance our trade relations.

It was very minimum, the trade relations. You know, Armenia is next to Russia, next to other countries, Georgia. For the Armenian market, it is easier to have the goods from there.

But with the help of the Minister of Economy of Armenia, we tried to overcome this distance and promote both Egyptian and Armenian goods. We worked on this intensively last year and the year before. I believe the fruits of this work will become visible in the coming years.

-So in your opinion, what are the areas that are of the greatest interest in terms of developing and deepening economic ties between the two countries? 

 We welcomed visit of the Minister of Industry and High Tech of Armenia. He assisted the EDEX  fair. It was in 2024.

There is a fairly large field of activity in the information and high-tech sector. Armenian companies in this sector are very progressive. They also accompanied the minister on the visit to Cairo. We are also exchanging experience in the environmental sector, as Armenia is very advanced in solar energy, just like Egypt.

And they succeeded to do that with their competence. So we are exchanging also expertise in the domain of environment, as  Armenia is very advanced in the solar energy also, as well as Egypt.

So we are exchanging a lot, you know, of expertise in this domain also. IT is one of the most important domains of our cooperation. Some agriculture products coming from Egypt to the Armenian market and they are done here in Armenia. So it's made in Armenia. 

 Egyptians and Armenians, they love each other, and they know how to cooperate with each other. They understand each other very well.

So being ambassador in Armenia is such a pleasure, because we have the same kind of understanding. We are ancient civilizations. We have this accumulation of culture and this accumulation of civilization in our blood; in our genes. We understand each other very well.

-As we know, hundreds of Armenians every year spend their vacations in Egypt. So in your opinion, why do Armenians choose Egypt for spending their free time or holidays? In this regard, what interest can Egyptian people have in Armenia to spend their holidays in Armenia? And what importance does this have in terms of strengthening the links between two nations? 

It is very important to strengthen the links between our two nations because it allows direct communication between our peoples.

Wherever I go here, Armenians say, “Oh, Egypt—Sharm El Sheikh is there!” And I say, “Yes, Egypt.” They love going to Egypt.

I would say it's not only for the sea, of course, for the sea, the beauty of the sea and the sun and all that, but also for the warm welcome that Egyptians give to Armenians. When they go there, they feel at home.

And even Egyptians in hotels when I go and they know that I am the Egyptian ambassadort they start talking to me in Armenian, not in Arabic. These cultural ties are very, very strong. When you go to a place and feel that they speak your language, that they welcome you and are happy to have you—it means a lot.

So the Armenians are feeling at home in Sharm El Sheikh, Hurghada.  They have their own sea in Egypt. So as if you are traveling here in Armenia, but you go to have a flight to Egypt and we are benefiting from many travel agencies here working.

I was celebrating with the Armenian travel agency here, one of the biggest in Armenia. And the Egyptian representative of hotels and touristic companies in Egypt, just the day before yesterday, we were in this event. I was encouraging all the touristic corporations to work together and to open also new destinations in Egypt, like Alamein, like Marsa Alam.

We are having the great event of opening the new Grand Museum on the 3rd of July. It is the biggest museum in the world dedicated for one civilization. It is for the Egyptian  pharaonic civilization.

Grand Museum is a great event, cultural and touristic and historical event. So we are encouraging also Armenian tourist agencies and Egyptian hotels to cooperate together to promote the opportunity for Armenians to visit this wonderful project that has been years, work has been done for this project since years. It is a significant project for the humanity, for the whole world.

We are also promoting Armenians to go visit this wonderful, great museum.

- Ms. Ambassador, let's talk about a little bit a situation in South Caucasus, particularly about the relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. I am sure you are aware that in March of this year, two sides have announced about finalizing the process of agreeing on a draft peace agreement and completing negotiations on it. Following this, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan and other Armenian officials announced Armenia's willingness to start consultations and negotiations with the Azerbaijani side in order to understand where and when this agreement can be signed. However, after it, the Azerbaijani side started to promote new preconditions for signing this agreement. Besides, in parallel with these preconditions, Azerbaijan continued to spread false rumors that Armenian armed forces are firing at Azerbaijani positions in different parts of the border. Anyway, the agreement has not been signed yet, but Armenia is ready to sign this agreement. In this regard, how do you assess this negotiation process in general? And what is Egypt's position in this question? 

-  When President Sisi came to Armenia during his visit, he assured President Khachaturyan and also the Prime Minister Pashinyan the Egyptian endorsement for all Armenian endeavors to reach peace with Azerbaijan. You know, we believe that negotiations are the best solution to have any durable peace between countries in conflict.

President Sisi emphasized that negotiations are the most important path Armenia and Azerbaijan can take to achieve lasting peace. A solution based on equity must be reached through dialogue, as durable peace cannot be achieved in any other way.

What you mentioned is indeed very important—the steps of negotiation. At every stage, there will inevitably be differing points of view.

This is why diplomacy has existed since ancient times, even since the pharaonic era. In fact, the first peace treaty in recorded history dates back to that period.

In Egypt, we believe in peace. We believe that, despite the ups and downs in negotiation positions, the two parties will ultimately achieve durable peace. Peace is the key to development and stability.

You cannot thrive without having good relations with your neighbors, as poor relations can lead to significant economic hardship. Armenia has chosen the right path, the path of peace.

Prime Minister Pashinyan presented the Crossroads of Peace initiative, which has been warmly welcomed by Egypt. We fully support all of Prime Minister Pashinyan’s efforts and have officially endorsed the peace process and the agreements reached between Armenia and Azerbaijan, through a statement by our Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

When it comes to the technical aspects of negotiations, it is normal for one party or the other to be dissatisfied at times. This is what we in diplomacy call the art of negotiation: the art of making the impossible possible.

Good diplomats must sit down at the table for direct negotiations to reach outcomes that benefit both countries, both peoples, and contribute to regional stability.

And I am confident that this will happen in the near future.

-You mentioned the Armenian government's Crossroads of Peace initiative. Do you think it could help build trust between the sides and unblock communications in the South Caucasus? And can it, as you said, contribute to forging a durable peace between the two parties?

We fully endorse this initiative. Egypt supports Prime Minister Pashinyan’s Crossroads of Peace initiative because it is inclusive and brings benefits to all parties in the region. It connects trade routes, railways, and enhances communication across the entire region and its countries.

When you create shared interests, you build, trust is essential. So, this is a very promising initiative for building both confidence and lasting peace.

Even the European Union was founded on a similar principle. When they sought to end war and establish peace, they did so through cooperation and economic integration, starting with the Treaty of Rome in 1956. Today, we have the European Union. As we see, small steps can lead to greater cooperation and unity.

-Armenia is currently deepening its relations and cooperation with Arab countries around the world. How would you describe the current state of Armenia–Arab relations? And from this perspective, how would you assess the Armenian government's approach?

Yes, I’ve observed that over the past two years, Armenia–Arab relations have grown significantly. New embassies from Arab countries have opened in Armenia—something that wasn’t happening before.

I believe this is a very positive step, both from Armenia and from the Arab countries, toward more fruitful cooperation. Geographically, we are not far apart, so strengthening Middle Eastern and Arab ties with Armenia is highly beneficial for Armenia.

- Ms. Ambassador, are there any high-level visits planned from Egypt to Armenia in the near future?

-Yes, we are working on organizing ministerial visits. We are working in many areas that we have not worked on before. We are expecting several ministerial visits, and I will announce them when the right time comes.

Thank you for the opportunity for the interview and the warm welcome. Would you like to add anything?

-Yes, I would also like to add that as the Egyptian Ambassador to Armenia, it was a wonderful experience for me to discover the origins of the Armenians living in Cairo. Now I feel how artistic the Armenians of Egypt are, how intelligent they are.

When I came here, I discovered why they are like that, because I really admire Armenian culture. I admire the Armenian people, how they are building their country, how they belong to their nation, language, and culture, which is very appreciable. It is wonderful how the Armenian language has survived all these years. This is an incredible thing in any civilization in the world. This is due to the dignity of Armenians and the preservation of Armenian culture and identity. It is admirable how Armenians preserve the nature of Armenia and take care of the environment. I wish all Armenians a prosperous future. They deserve it very much.

Armenians are peaceful, they are intellectuals, educated, and they think about the best for humanity. I hope that Armenia will be prosperous, and Egyptian-Armenian relations will always provide each other with the best experience. Egypt also conducts training courses for Armenian friends at our diplomatic institute, and courses are also conducted for Armenians in the fields of police, management, and law. We provide our Armenian friends with numerous scholarships and training courses. We hope that cooperation in many areas will contribute to building a prosperous future.