April 29, 2008

AMB: Good morning. I am very, very grateful to have been able to call very early on His Excellency, the Prime Minister, who has been such an important force for economic and other development in Egypt. I had the benefit of talking to him and hearing his views on where he sees our strategic relationship going and our partnership that we’ve had. I explained that in my point of view, we have a legacy that I inherited when I came here of a very strong U.S. - Egyptian partnership and relationship that has grown and developed over a period of 30 years, at the very least. And it is something that I hope to contribute to and to see develop further. It was a great, as I said, a great honor and a great opportunity for me to hear the Prime Minister, and to hear his views and to look forward to further opportunities to consult him about the various elements of our bilateral relationship and where we can work together, and I’m certainly committed and look forward to this further dialogue with the Minister and with his government. Thank you very much.

Q: You came as new Ambassador to Egypt but Egyptian society is viewing you as “unfriendly” based on your Congressional testimony. What is your comment and also how do you see the future of the US-Egyptian relations?

AMB: In the first place, I will invite anyone, and it’s on our website in the Embassy, to go back and read my testimony because if you read it completely, you will find that it was written in a spirit of great respect for Egyptians and Egypt’s role in the region and the world, certainly with acknowledgement of its sovereignty and of its independence and of the great progress that it has made, and of the partnership that we have had. As I said, the United States views Egypt as an important partner and we have many, many goals that we share in common and that we have over many decades been able to advance. I think of it as “What do I need to do to sort of help fulfill this?” And I think what I need to do is to meet as many Egyptians as I can from different parts of Egyptian society. I need to listen. I need to be clear in what, of course, our policies are. But as I said, over the last 30 years, the United States and Egypt have been drawn together very closely by common goals, and I think we will continue to pursue those, and we will continue to enjoy a frank discussion with each other as friends do that have had so many, many decades of cooperation.

I anticipate that the future will throw us many things that we cannot predict but the U.S.-Egyptian partnership with our long history of working together and consulting with each other will enable both our countries to take advantage of opportunities and to secure our national interests together.

Q: What do you think about AID to Egypt with all the many discussions sometimes decreasing AID and other times increasing it?

AMB: Well, I think the Administration has already put forward its proposal for the next budget year. Egypt still remains one of the very, very largest recipients of overall foreign assistance. We have a commitment over 10 years, I believe, on the military side of $13 billion, it’s quite extensive and a comparable commitment for each year, not comparable in terms of amount but a commitment going out for the economic support side as well. But these are, at this point, proposals put forward by the Administration to the Congress. It’s only the President’s right to propose, it’s the Congress’ right to actually make decisions on any kind of appropriation.

Thank you very much.