On October 19, 2021, ECFA organized a symposium in which Ambassador Nabil Najm, the former Iraqi ambassador to Egypt, presented his book “Yesterday’s Story”, recently issued by Dar Badael Al-Masria for Publishing and Distribution, which addresses Ambassador Najm’s biography and career, and the events he witnessed which he was either close to or a witness of. A number of ambassadors, as well as those interested in Iraqi affairs, both members of the Council and non-members, participated in the meeting, along with ECFA Chairman, Ambassador Dr. Mounir Zahran and ECFA Director, Ambassador Dr. Ezzat Saad.

Ambassador Najm began his speech by expressing gratitude to ECFA for organizing this event, noting that his book succeeds a previous book he issued in 2015, under the title “In the Crossfire”, in which he talked about a specific time period in his diplomatic career, and was mainly documenting a difficult period for the Arab nation. He called on all diplomats and politicians to write their memoirs, experiences and visions of the events they experienced before they get forgotten, and may be distorted, adding that what they write should represent a motive to review the past, with all its events, to benefit and learn from its lessons, whether it was a failure or a success, as well as fulfilling the right of history and future generations to know the truth of events through testimonies that should not be concealed.

In this context, the guest reviewed flashes from his book, as he dealt with the period of the monarchy and the declaration of the republican system after the revolution of July 14, 1958, passing through all the events that he witnessed at the political level since the Iraqi Baath Party came to power in July 1968, as he was one of its members. He underscored his posts at the diplomatic level, starting with serving in his country’s diplomatic mission in Switzerland, head of the Public Relations Department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and as an ambassador for his country in Vietnam and Greece, and in his golden age when he came to Cairo and his emotional relationship with Egypt, according to the description that linked him to Cairo in his young age, where he presented his credentials in September 1988.