Archbishop of Canterbury honors Mrs. Mubarak
Egypt-UK, Culture, 5/18/2002

Archbishop of Canterbury George Cary on Friday gave a special reception in honor of Egypt's First Lady Suzanne Mubarak, in appreciation of her incessant efforts to help the Egyptian community and her support of Islamic and Christian non-governmental organizations NGOs to discharge their duties in developing the Egyptian community.

At the start of reception Mrs Mubarak gave speech in which she thanked his grace George Cary for inviting her to address his noble institution.

In her speech, Mrs. Mubarak spoke of the current conflicts and wars and said: "Peace is a reward, we have to earn it.

We have to provide its prerequisites, the most important of which are justice, equality and tolerance.

"Today more than ever, we need to know more about each others cultures we need to know more about the religion of others, and just as important we need to know our own religions better," she said.

In her speech Mrs. Mubarak underlined the need to hold dialogue between different institutions.

She further expressed admiration at his grace's institution working for human causes without discrimination on the common grounds of "global ethics."

"It gives me great pleasure to receive from the Episcopal Church the distinguished award of Saint Augustine. I consider it a symbol of understanding between our two countries and between two great religions," she said.

"You have done us a great honor in agreeing to receive a special presentation in recognition of all that you have contributed in the field of charitable work; and also in recognition of all your support for inter faith relations in Egypt," Archbishop George Cary said.

He also thanked the Egyptian authorities for "the recognition of the independent status of the Episcopal Church in Egypt."

The archbishop welcomed Arab ambassadors who attended the reception, especially the Palestinian diplomat, adding that this is a time of "considerable anxiety for all those of us who care passionately about the cause of peace and justice for all peoples and all faith communities of the Middle East."

"Pleased be assured that I shall continue to use my office to do all that I can to seek peace and reconciliation," he said.

He referred, in this respect, to the "truly historic meeting of Jewish, Christian and Muslim religious leaders in Alexandria."

"A major part of the significance of our gathering today is that it speaks of friendship, cooperation and mutual understanding between Christians and Muslims," the Canterbury archbishop said.

He praised Mrs. Mubarak as "a great example of how Muslims and Christians can serve one another, treat each other with respect and, together, seek the good of the wider society."

Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak, on the other hand, voiced satisfaction with Egypt's achievements over 10 years in the field of childcare.

Interviewed by the BBC radio, Mrs. Mubarak also highlighted the achievements realized by the Arab states.

Asked about her evaluation of the session on childhood recently held in New York, Mrs. Mubarak said such a large number of world heads of state and government who attended the summit gave real hope that the whole world has become more convinced that everyone should cooperate to boost international childhood.

"Each participating country submitted its report on the problems facing children and means to overcome them in the future," she said.

On her visit to London, Mrs. Mubarak said a big charity had been scheduled to be held for the interest of Egyptian patients of cancer.

"But it was canceled due to the latest developments in the Middle East," she added.

"We, rather, decided to hold a small reception at the Egyptian embassy in honor of the donors," she said.

On the agenda of the next Arab women summit, she said the summit, to be held in Amman, will review the outcome of the previous summit and of the five for a held following the summit.

"The forums addressed women in the fields of law, economy, politics and media, among other domains," she added.

"A future plan for women will also be laid down during the coming summit," she said.

Previous Stories:
  Mrs. Mubarak opens NGO's conference   (5/14/2002)
  Fighting child labour   (5/13/2002)
  Egypt regains Merrit's head   (1/17/2000)

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