Visit of Grand Mufti of Kosovo Sheikh Naim Ternava to ECFA

On August 5, 2021, Ambassador Dr. Ezzat Saad, ECFA Director, received Grand Mufti of Kosovo Sheikh Naim Ternava, accompanied by Ambassador Abu Bakr Ismail and the Mufti’s advisor, at his request, on the sidelines of his visit to Cairo at the invitation of the Grand Mufti of Egypt Sheikh Dr. Shawki Allam, to participate in Egypt’s Dar Al-Ifta 6th international conference, entitled “Fatwa Authorities in the Digital Age: Development Challenges and Cooperation Mechanisms”.

The guest emphasized the extended cooperation between Al-Azhar Institution and Kosovo, calling for the importance of an Egyptian Arab presence in Kosovo, as there is no Arab embassy residing in Kosovo, and they hope that Egypt will take this pioneering step, as the rest of the Arab countries will follow suit. He added that despite the occurrence of some cultural exchanges between Kosovo and Egypt based on a number of cooperation agreements in the fields of culture, youth and sports, as well as with the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, what matters is establishing diplomatic relations between the two sides, and opening an Egyptian embassy in Kosovo, especially since Serbia has a political representation office in Kosovo, as well as Russia, which is still leading a campaign against the recognition of Kosovo, allowing it UN membership, and seeking to thwart any attempts to increase the number of countries diplomatically recognizing his country.

It was also noted that the process of the ongoing dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo under the auspices of the European Union is still stalled, and that Belgrade negotiates in bad faith to prolong the negotiations to keep the situation as it is and to disrupt Kosovo’s integration within international institutions. It was also mentioned that the Orthodox world countries in the European Union, especially Greece, Slovakia and Spain are still the most supportive states for the Russian position.