Online Reporter
Wallace Ruzvidzo-Herald Reporter
EGYPT is committed to continuously cooperating and supporting Zimbabwe in various areas, including pharmaceuticals and irrigation development, outgoing Egyptian Ambassador to Zimbabwe Salwa el Mowafi has said.
The diplomat yesterday paid a farewell courtesy call on President Mnangagwa at State House in Harare, following the conclusion of her mission in Zimbabwe.
Speaking to the media after their closed-door meeting, Ambassador Mowafi said Harare and Cairo enjoyed cordial relations dating back to Zimbabwe’s struggle for independence and these relations continued to grow in leaps and bounds.
“Egypt is always committed to cooperating and supporting Zimbabwe, not only at the time before liberation, but after and for the future coming years. I really love being here in Zimbabwe and we are all brothers and sisters of Africa and we are very proud of our continent and for our excellent bilateral relations that do exist between our two great countries,” she said.
Ambassador Mowafi said during her tenure, ties between the two countries had grown exponentially, and the exchange of high-level visits by officials from both countries was testament to this.
“I worked hard here in order to cement our bilateral relations, and this resulted in three official visits by His Excellency President Mnangagwa to my country and two Presidential meetings between the two Presidents (President Mnangagwa and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah el-Sisi) and various multiple visits, ministerial visits to Egypt as well and also vice versa to Zimbabwe from our side,” she said.
President Mnangagwa recieves a gift from Egyptian Ambassador to Zimbabwe Salwa el Mowafi at State House in Harare yesterday. Picture Justin Mutenda.
Over the years, Egypt and Zimbabwe have collaborated in various areas, further strengthening their bilateral relations.
The Egyptian diplomat said various Memoranda of Understanding in the fields of irrigation development, pharmaceuticals and low-cost housing had been signed between the two countries.
“We (Egypt) are really very good in the irrigation systems, and there is lots of cooperation and it’s about to show in this field, as well as, of course, there is this MoU that had been signed between two companies of the two capitals, for cooperation in this field. We are looking for more improvements and more positive developments in that area.
“We are very good in the field of pharmaceuticals and we have achieved a very excellent breakthrough in that field of cooperation with Zimbabwe and our Egyptian medicine is now in the Government hospitals of Zimbabwe.
“There is also an MoU signed between the two countries in the field of low-cost housing, so it’s something that’s on the march,” she said.
Ambassador Mowafi then described her tenure in Zimbabwe as fruitful, adding that she “felt at home”.
“We put the seeds, and we are waiting for the harvest to come, and it will be an excellent, fruitful harvest, God willing. This is something that made me feel at home here in Zimbabwe and I actually had a lot of chances to go around this beautiful country and to discover your lovely wildlife, as well as the beauty of the character of the Zimbabwean people,” she said.
As the Ambassador leaves the country, she also took time to commend President Mnangagwa and Zimbabweans at large for making her time in the country worthwhile.
“I am going back on Sunday, but I would like really to thank the Government of Zimbabwe, topped by His Excellency President Mnangagwa and the people of Zimbabwe for opening your hearts before your doors to me in my three-year term here in Zimbabwe,” said Ambassador Mowafi.
