Sisi to receive Cypriot, Greek presidents Monday

CAIRO – 29 April 2018: President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi will receive Monday the presidents of Cyprus and Greece to launch the “Roots Revival” initiative, to honor foreign communities.

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades will leave for Alexandria on Monday, according to Cyprus Mail, to launch the initiative along with President Sisi and his Greek counterpart Prokopis Pavlopoulos.

The seven-day “Roots Revival” initiative, also known as “Nostos the Return”, comes as part of a cooperation protocol signed by the three countries last December. The protocol aims to bring Cypriots and Greeks, who used to live in Alexandria, back to the city.

A special program for 120 visitors representing the second and third generations of Egyptian-Greek communities in different world countries has been prepared, Minister of Immigration and Expatriates' Affairs Nabila Makram added.

The program is set to include visits to the places in which their families used to live, such as Zizinia and El Raml neighborhoods in Alexandria, followed by a visit to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa, a tour of Giza Pyramids, and finally a visit to Saint Catherine's Monastery in Sharm El-Sheikh.

The project is an initiative of Makram, who visited Cyprus along with Greek Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Terence Quick for consultations with Cyprus’ Presidential Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs Photis Photiou, as part of the tripartite cooperation of the three countries on diaspora issues.