Egypt's Call to hold anti-terroism conference meets world support
Egypt, Politics, 1/17/2000

Egypt's permanent delegate to the UN Ambassador Ahmed Abul-Gheit on Friday submitted a report to Foreign Minister Amr Moussa on the UN General Assembly 54th session's activities in which Egypt has effectively participated.

"Egypt, under the leadership of President Hosni Mubarak, will continue to play its role at regional and international levels," he said, adding that Egypt will continue to defend Egyptian, Arab and Islamic interests at the UN.

He further said that Egypt during the 54th session contributed to formulating more than 170 resolutions in the different areas of interest of the UN.

He expounded that the year 2001 has been declared a year for dialogue among civilizations.

"The Egyptian, Arab and Islamic drive regarding Islam and its role in maintaining peace at the international level has started to pay off and many have started to understand the core of Islam and its message," Abul-Gheit stressed.

"The Arab and Islamic countries must work with dexterity to preserve what has so far been achieved in this regard," he added.

"Islamic civilization, concepts and principles will never be undermined however hard some are trying to do," he underlined.

He added that President Hosni Mubarak's initiative for holding an international conference on fighting terrorism is meeting with ever increasing global support.

Abul-Gheit added that the UN General Assembly had entrusted the proposal to a special committee to mull it over as part of sustained efforts to face up to the phenomenon in the new century.

"The year 2000 will see a massive effort aimed at holding the conference," he said.

On the negative impact of funding terrorist activities on efforts to eliminate them, Abul-Gheit said Egypt and France are closely joining efforts inside the UN to support an international trend in this regard and promote the idea of reaching an international agreement under which finance of such activities could be stopped through cooperation between banking and security authorities.

"The agreement is currently being studied by the UN General Assembly," he added.

"Moreover, a UN special team will visit Egypt in the first week of February to discuss the problem of land mines in the Western Desert of Egypt," said Abul-Gheit.

"The team which groups many UN land mine experts will meet with officials in Egypt to get acquainted with the dimensions of the problem and will visit the areas where the mines are planted since World War II," said Abul-Gheit.

"Egypt will keep the momentum of its campaign over the next months to obtain world assistance and support to demine its desert which witnessed some of the World War II most decisive battles," added Abul-Gheit.

"Egypt will call on the countries which battled on its territories to contribute to the demining operations and cost as the land mines are mostly planted in arable areas where economic communities can be built," said Egypt's chief delegate to the UN.

The Egyptian land is littered with more than 22 million land mines according to a UN report.

Previous Stories:
  US backs Egypt's leading role in ME, Arab World   (12/24/1999)
  Egypt signs international agreement on terrorism   (12/17/1999)
  US Congress delegation: US -Egyptian relations important   (12/10/1999)

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