At an invitation by NATO to the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs –via the Egyptian Embassy in Brussels – the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through the Office of the Assistant Minister for Multilateral Relations, arranged for the visit by selecting participants in the Egyptian delegation headed by Ambassador Mounir Zahran ECFA Chair. The delegation included Ambassador Wafaa Bassim, Deputy Assistant Minister for Security Organizations Ambassador Ahmed Salama, other members of the Foreign Minister’s Office, and a number of media professionals.
The NATO Secretariat prepared a partnership program with seven countries south of the Mediterranean (Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and Mauritania), as well as a program of meetings and lectures with NATO officials.
The topics that the NATO Secretariat officials focused on were cooperation and partnership with the Mediterranean countries. They started with a policy of openness.
NATO officials spoke of changes in the organization’s functions after the end of the Cold War, an increase in its defense plans after tension with Russia due to the Ukraine crisis, as well as its southern Mediterranean missions and prospects of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
NATO officials also noted to the cooperation with Egypt in combating terrorism, crimes and weapons of mass destruction and in clearing mines, with particular reference to crises in the region, particularly in Libya, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Somalia.
