In partnership with the Singer-Polignac Foundation, the Cultural Office of the Embassy of Egypt in France co-organized a conference entitled L'Egypte, hier et aujourd'hui, presenting three aspects of Egypt from both a historical and a contemporary perspective : theLibrary of Alexandria, the Institut d’Égypte and the Suez Canal. The conference also addressed Franco-Egyptian relations. Serageldin spoke of the revival of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina and the role it has played since its inauguration as a place for open dialogue and understanding in the face of obsurantism and religious extermism. Serageldin, who is also Vice-President of the Insitut d’Égypte, recounted the history of that institution, since its establishment by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1798, and spoke of the common mission it shares with the BA in the dissemination of knowledge and the promotion of humanist values.
Ehab Badawi, Egyptian ambassador to France, spoke on behalf of Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Former Secretary-General of the United Nations, who was unable to be there in person, on the subject of Franco-Egyptian and Euro-Mediterranean relations. Mohab Mamish, Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority spoke of Egypt’s new Suez Canal.
Created in 1928, the Singer-Polignac Foundation is a privately funded public body dedicated to the promotion of arts and sciences.
Click here to go to Singer Polignac website page on the conference, including videos of Serageldin’s presentations.