Egyptian scientist Essam Heggy is only interested in scientific dialogues and will participate in COP27: Diaa Rashwan

CAIRO – 27 June 2022: Egyptian space scientist Essam Heggy said that he is not interested to be part of any political dialogue; however, he is willing to participate in any activity or project that serves science and education in anyway, according to Egypt’s National Dialogue’ general coordinator Diaa Rashwan said.

During televised statements, Sunday, Rashwan praised Heggy’s choice saying that ‘Egypt does not have a lot of international scientists, therefore, it is important for Heggy to continue his work and progress in his specialty   for the sake of Eruptions and all humanity.’

“Heggy, also has announced that he is willing to participate in the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) expected to be held in Sharm El Sheikh with a research paper in his specialty, and that he is interested to participated in any scientific discussions.” Rashwan said.

As for political science professor and director of the Carnegie Middle East Program Amr Hamzawy, he expressed his willingness to participate in the political dialogue.

Rashwan said that the dialogue will include a wide range of well-known names that reflects the Egyption society, and that the announced board of trustees will be only coordinating and organizing the dialogue.

“Many of the well-known and well-experienced public figures will be engaging in the dialogue within in Egypt and abroad, and those will be the real fuel of the political talking and discussions that will aim to suggest new law legislations and political movements to president Abdel Fattah al Sisi” Rashwan added.

He affirmed that: “No party was pressured to participate in the national dialogue, and no party set specific conditions for participation. There is a state of great agreement to participate in the dialogue and to ensure its success. There is no party or political current regardless its political affiliations refused to participate.”

Rashwan also assured that: “There is no place in the national dialogue for anyone who incited terrorism or participated in terrorist incidents and was described the Egyptian judiciary as terrorist group [ in an indication to the Muslim brotherhood Group that was designated as a terrorist group in 2013].”

The general coordinator also noted that all of the dialogue’s sessions will be recorded, and that ‘nothing will be denied from media, as everyone has the right to know what we will be doing and discussing”.

The board of trustees of the National Dialogue has been appointed, consisting of 19 members, after a 20-day consultation among politicians, trade union officials and political parties’ members and representatives participating in this dialogue, according to a Sunday statement.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said that the objective of the national dialogue, which has been announced recently by him last month, aims at listening to people’s opinions for “the sake of the nation.”

President Sisi’s comments were stated during his meeting with a number of editors and media professionals from Egyptian newspapers, on the sidelines of his tour of Egypt's Future Project for Agricultural Production, which he inaugurated on May 21, 2022.

The national dialogue comes as part of Sisi's national human rights strategy, launched in September with vows to open the public space to be more and more inclusive. As such, hundreds of inamtes, including dozens of human rights activists, have recently been released by the Presidential Pardon Committee.