Page 3 - Issue 72

V O L .1 E L I T E ISSUE 72

Interview with Ambassador Raouf Saad

Rana Ahmed - Maryam Fathy - Latifa ElBaroudi - Karim Ashraf

Elite Magazine was pleased to hold a fruitful Q1: Your Excellency, how was your relationship
meeting full of rich information and with the Faculty of Economics and Political
exceptional experiences with Ambassador Science, and did some professors have a special
Raouf Saad. One of the most prominent influence on your career later on?
figures in contemporary Egyptian diplomacy, My relationship with the Faculty of Economics,
who combined field experience in international from the very first day I enrolled until the day I
politics and institutional work in various graduated, was exceptional by every measure.
strategic sectors. Throughout his career, the When I first joined the Faculty, I felt I was
ambassador moved between pivotal posts: from stepping into a new and different experience
within Egypt’s educational system. At that time, I
the halls of the Faculty of Economics and
was very young, I completed my secondary
Political Science at Cairo University, to the
certificate at the age of fifteen. My sudden
Egyptian embassies abroad, all the way to
decision to join the Faculty of Economics was
leadership positions in negotiations in the
met with surprise, even opposition. But I felt that
arenas of international relations.
this Faculty represented a genuine addition to the
In this meeting, we get to explore his long
educational system and to Egypt itself, a thought
experience that witnessed major historical
which was strange for a young man at my age.
events, including the collapse of the Soviet
As for the four academic years, it was an
Union and the transformations of the
exceptional and unforgettable period. At that
international system. We also review his roles in
time, the college was in its early stages, and we
strengthening bilateral relations with Russia were honored to be taught by esteemed
and the countries of the former Soviet Union, professors in the fields of economics, political
expanding the horizons of cooperation with the science, and law. I remember that we were a small
European Union, Belgium, and Luxembourg, group, all of us high achievers, studying alongside
and developing the economic partnership with students from across the Arab world. Among
China, in addition to his efforts in supporting them were colleagues who, only a few years after
joint African action and employing cultural graduation, went on to assume ministerial posts 3
diplomacy to serve the continent's issues. in their countries, as did some of my Egyptian
peers.