This year Australia and Egypt are celebrating 60 years of diplomatic relations between our two countries. To mark this occasion, Mr. Kevin Rudd, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Commonwealth of Australia traveled to Cairo to meet with several members of the Egyptian government, including His Excellency President Hosni Mubarak.

In the beginning of December the Australian Embassy hosted a wonderful reception where I met with Mr. Rudd. We had the opportunity to discuss the exhibition of King Tutankhamun, which will travel to Melbourne in April 2011.  This exhibition, Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs, will be on display in New York City until January 17, 2011. I plan on visiting Australia while the exhibition is in Melbourne and I look forward to meeting with Mr. Rudd again and visiting his country.

During the reception in celebration of Australia and Egypt’s history together, Mr. Rudd gave a wonderful speech highlighting the economic and diplomatic relations between our two countries, but also the cultural links between Australians and Egyptians. Mr. Rudd noted the contribution to all aspects of Australian society made by the approximately 33,000 Egyptian-Australians and tens of thousands more with Egyptian ancestry. Mr Aboul Gheit, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt, noted that more than 60,000 Australians visit Egypt each year – a significant number given the geographical distance between both countries. I was also very glad that Mr. Rudd pointed out Egypt’s importance in negotiating peace in the Middle East and I hope that 2011 will be the year that all nations of the Middle East will come together in peaceful relations with one another.

I was very glad to be a part of this occasion and I hope that Australia and Egypt will be able to celebrate many more years of friendship and cooperation in the future.