US ambassador to Egypt Margaret Scobey denied that there are official contacts with the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) Group. "We do not have official contacts with the MB, but we are proud to deal with all trends, listen to all categories and see all cultures. The Egyptians are in bad need of dialogue," she said. She added: “The US tries hardly to support democracy, the file of political rights and the freedom of the Egyptian press. We should admit that the Egyptian government is still in need of taking serious steps in the fields of political and human rights.” "I think that the US should ensure the security of Israel. Our country was effective enough and made great efforts so that aid could reach Gaza. We also support the Egyptian government to stop the launch of rockets so that food can reach Gaza," Scobey said. "I will not talk on behalf of the new US president, but he will, of course, try to bring about peace in the Middle East. The new president will put the foreign policy," she explained. She continued: “Egypt plays a central role in fighting extremism. We worked together against extremism and terrorism. We still work to reach a fair solution for the Palestinian issue and bring about peace in the region. We call on all Middle East States to follow in the footsteps of Egypt in calling for peace.” “We will continue cooperation and trade with Egypt and we hope we can one day reach an agreement on a free trade zone, especially as the US and Egypt focus on increasing trade rather than aid. We expect a bigger increase in bilateral trade in the coming period,” the US ambassador added. With regard to aid to Egypt, Scobey said: "You know that the aid is in the president's hands and I do not know what he will do with this file. However, Obama pledged not to cut aid. We have to wait and see." Scobey added that the US is a main partner in fighting piracy: "It is amazing that we still suffer from piracy in the 21st century. However, we have been working with NATO and the UN to put the international laws into action," she said. "We have projects in several Egyptian governorates and I will meet with students of the Suez Canal University next week. I hope the meeting will be interesting," the US official said.
