Conference on Egyptian-French Relations at the BA
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Since 2014, the BA Center for Francophone Activities (CAF), in cooperation with the French Embassy in Cairo and the French Chamber of Commerce in Egypt, has been preparing for and organizing an important conference that highlights Egyptian-French relations. The conference will be held under the aegis of the Egyptian Tourism Authority and the Egyptian and French Ministries of Tourism. The “Two Centuries of Egyptian-French Relations: Common Destiny and Prospects” conference will be held on 17 and 18 October 2016 at the BA.
During the conference, speakers from Egypt and France will tackle political, economic, and cultural topics. Among these distinguished speakers are Dr. Ahmed Darwish, Chairman of the General Authority for the Suez Canal Economic Zone; Dr. Khaled El-Enany, Minister of Antiquities; Amr Moussa, former General Secretary of the Arab League of States and former Minister of Foreign Affairs; Mounir Abdel Nour, former Minister of Trade and Industry; novelist Ibrahim Abdel Meguid; Nabil Haglawy, Consul General of France in Alexandria; and Professor Albert Lourde, Dean of Senghor University in Alexandria.
The opening session of the conference will feature several speakers, including Ambassador André Parant, French Ambassador to Egypt; Mahmoud al-Qaisi, Head of the French Chamber of Trade and Industry; and Sameh Shoukry, Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs. Dr. Ismail Serageldin, Director of the BA, will also deliver a lecture titled “The Saga of Egypt and France: Two Centuries of Fruitful Interactions”. Simultaneous interpretation from French into Arabic will be available during each session of the conference.
Two exhibitions will be held alongside the conference, “Alexandria Tram” and “Portraits of French Antiquities in Egypt”, as well as a concert by Paris-Cairo Trio titled “Best French Songs”.
For the third consecutive year, the CAF is organizing the Francophone Professions Festival alongside the conference, with France as the honorary guest. The festival is organized in cooperation with the Embassies of Switzerland and Côte d’Ivoire, and it will be inaugurated on 16 October 2016. Various heritage products representing Francophone culture will be sold during the festival, along with popular foods from the participating countries.