Egypt’s tourism & antiquities min. convenes with Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, holds bilateral meetings with Arab counterparts

CAIRO – 27 May 2021: During his participation in the Tourism Recovery Summit held in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia within the framework of the 47th convention of the Regional Committee for the Middle East of the World Tourism Organization, held in Riyadh, May 26 and May 27, Egypt’s Minister of Tourism & Antiquities  Khaled el-Enany, met Special Adviser to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the non-profit King Salman Foundation Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud.

Enany congratulated Prince Sultan Al-Saud on his appointment as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Grand Egyptian Museum by Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

Al-Saud thanked Enany expressing his appreciation for being a member of the Board of Trustees of the Grand Egyptian Museum.

In a related context, Enany held a number of bilateral meetings with his counterparts in Arab nations. He met with Minister of Tourism in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Ahmed al-Khatib, Minister of the United Arab Emirates for Entrepreneurship and Small and Medium Enterprises in charge of tourism Ahmed Belhoul al-Falasi, Minister of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities in Iraq Hassan Nazim, and Minister of Tourism and Antiquities in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Nayef al-Fayez.

The meetings discussed enhancing mutual cooperation between Egypt and the aforementioned countries in tourism and archaeology.

During his meeting with the Saudi Minister of Tourism, Enany praised the development projects in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, especially in the field of tourism. 

He said that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is one of the important markets exporting tourism to Egypt. He added that he is looking forward to increasing inbound tourism to Egypt from Arab countries, especially with the gradual opening of travel in many of them. 

Also, Enany said that Egypt always welcomes Arab tourists. He added that Egypt is an important destination for them for many reasons, the most important of which are proximity, unity of language and culture.

The Saudi Minister of Tourism praised the bilateral relations between the two countries, and expressed his aspiration to establish joint tourism programs between the two countries.

During a meeting with the Minister of the United Arab Emirates for Entrepreneurship and Small and Medium Enterprises, Enany spoke about Egypt's participation in Expo 2020 Dubai, which is scheduled to open in October 2021 and will last for 6 months.

With the Iraqi Minister of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities, the meeting discussed exchanging experiences between archaeologists and restorers in the two countries, in addition to cooperation in repatriation of stolen antiquities.

Enany also discussed joint cooperation with the Jordanian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities.

These meetings were attended by Ambassador Ahmed Farouk, Egypt's Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Yomna al-Bahar, Assistant Minister of Tourism and Antiquities for Technical Affairs and Abdel Mohsen Shafei, Supervisor of the Central Administration for Public and International Relations at the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.