The speaker of Canada's Senate George Furey visited Egypt's parliament on Sunday. Furey, heading a Canadian parliamentary delegation, was welcomed by speaker of Egypt's parliament Ali Abdel-Aal. A press statement said that the meeting between Furey and Abdel-Aal focused on reviewing the bilateral relations between Egypt and Canada. "The meeting also made a review of the latest political, economic and social developments in Egypt, with an emphasis on the country's ambitious economic reform programme which is supported by investment friendly legislation," the statement said. It added that the two sides decided that an Egyptian-Canadian parliamentary friendship association be formed to push the relations between the two houses forward. For his part, speaker Furey expressed deep appreciation for the roles Egypt is playing at the regional and international levels. He said that Canada has always been keen to reinforce relations with Egypt. "Egypt is playing an influential role in the Middle East and Africa and this leads to reinforcing stability and peace," said Furey, adding that "for these reasons, I was so keen to come here and I see that both Egypt and Canada can play very constructive roles at all levels." Speaker Furey will meet with Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Sheikh Ahmed El-Tayeb; bishop Daniel, secretary of the Coptic Church, on behalf of Pope Tawadros II, who is currently visiting Germany; Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry; and Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar.
