Ministry of Foreign Affairs

It is the main state apparatus responsible for establishing, developing and strengthening Egyptian relations with all countries of the world, in addition to regional and international organizations and bodies.  It is responsible for proposing and implementing the state's foreign policy, as well as contributing to the  maintaining of the country's security and safety and the protection of its interests, based on the provisions of the constitution, the law, and the state's general policy.

In particular, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is responsible for proposing and implementing foreign policy and supervising foreign relations in the field of politics, economy, culture,etc. Moreover, It  plays the role of studying and analyzing the political situation related to the policy of other countries and the extent of its immediate and future effects on the state's policy, and tracking  its developments and evaluating it in the light of the Egyptian state's foreign policy.

The history of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs dates back to the first half of the nineteenth century during the reign of Governor Muhammad Ali Pasha, as  it was known as the “Diwan [council] of Frankish Affairs.” It was not a ministry in the current sense, but rather a council concerned with "trade and sales" affairs, and with a  limited tasks of looking into public transactions and trade issues. 

In the aftermath of Muhammad Ali’s rule, this council continued without major modifications until the “Diwan of foreign affairs ” became one of the four main councils in the country whose functions were defined in the prevention of slavery,  the  implementation of international treaties and the observation of European and local presses. This was mainly related to the level of the European presence in Egypt during the reign of Said Pasha and Khedive Ismail, due to the state of wide openness to Europe and the privileges that Europeans enjoyed during that period. Until the end of the nineteenth century, the Armenians continued to control the Diwan of Foreign Affairs and the most important positions in it. 

With the outbreak of World War I; the abolition of Ottoman sovereignty over Egypt; the imposition of British protection on it in late 1914;  and the abolition of most aspects of Egyptian sovereignty; the " council of Foreign Affairs" was abolished, for it represented  one of the symbols of Egyptian external sovereignty. With the declaration of independence from Britain on  February, 22, 1922, the British government informed on  March, 15 of the same year the countries that had representatives in Cairo that the Egyptian government was “now free to return the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and therefore it has the right to establish diplomatic representation and consulate abroad.”  

The Egyptian foreign representation was limited to the level of an agent or a general consul, until the level of representation for foreign missions in Cairo became at the rank of minister plenipotentiary. Britain stood against any attempts to raise the level of representation to the rank of ambassador. The situation did not change until  the Treaty of Friendship and Alliance was reached between Egypt and Great Britain on August 26, 1936, the second article of which stipulated that "from now on, ambassadors accredited in the established manner are to represent His Majesty the King before the Court of His Majesty the King of Egypt and His Majesty the King of Egypt at the Court of St. James." 

In the wake of the declaration of Egypt’s independence on February 28, 1922 , the volume of the mutual diplomatic representation in Cairo amounted to  representatives of seventeen countries who were general agents and consuls. It developed during this period until Egypt joined the League of Nations along with 26 countries. Subsequently, embassies, consulates and offices of international and regional organizations were opened in Egypt. Currently, there are 240 diplomatic missions in Cairo, which has become one of the largest reception centers for diplomatic representation in the world.

With the expansion of the Egyptian relations with the outside world, the number of Egyptian representations abroad increased, as their number reached about 57 in 1936 (It varied between twenty-three commissions or embassies, twelve general consulates, twenty-one consulates and one mission). 

These embassies have increased with the increase in Egyptian foreign relations, the increase in the level of Egyptian interests and the travel of Egyptian citizens to various parts of the world, to currently reach about 162 embassies, consulates, interests-care offices and a representative office of the Arab Republic of Egypt abroad.

In order to keep pace with the major transformations on the international scene during that period,  the restructuring of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was greatly affected by  the outbreak of the July Revolution of 1952, 

  Which  had the greatest impact in laying the corner stone for organizing the Egyptian diplomatic work so far.  On September 21, 1955, Law No. 453 was issued to define the Ministry’s responsiblity with implementing Egypt’s foreign policy and all related affairs, taking care of Egypt’s relations with foreign governments and international organizations and taking care of the interests of Egyptians, in addition to issuing diplomatic passports and supervising issues of diplomatic immunities and exemptions, as follows:

1- Organizing the exchange of diplomatic and consular representation with foreign countries, and including Egypt  in international organizations and forums.

 2- Preparing and directing diplomatic and consular instructions to the Egyptian representation missions and supervising Egypt's various relations abroad. 

 3- Carrying out contacts, discussions and negotiations to conclude all international treaties and agreements, and supervising their implementation, interpretation and criticism in partnership with the various ministries and departments. 

 4- Taking charge of communications between ministries, departments and departments of the Egyptian government, and between foreign bodies and governments and their diplomatic missions.

 5- Taking care of Egyptian interests abroad and taking measures to protect them within the limits of laws, regulations, treaties and international custom.

 6-  Gathering all the elements that have an impact on the policy of foreign countries from the relevant ministries and departments, and  providing these ministries and departments with the information and studies they want related to Egypt’s international relations.

In 1979, Minister of  Foreign Affairs, Dr. Boutros Boutros Ghali, issued a resolution organizing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in order to adapt to the requirements of the post-peace process phase.  In the following year,  Minister of  Foreign Affairs Kamal Hassan Ali reorganized the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to develop work mechanisms within the ministry, and to raise the efficiency of the Diplomatic Institute.

After President Hosni Mubarak assumed power in 1981, the ministry underwent a massive reorganization process.  The diplomatic and consular corps law was developed for the first time in 30 years.  Law No. 45 of 1982 was issued regarding the diplomatic and consular corps with the aim of adapting to the expansion of diplomatic and consular relations for Egypt, and the Vienna Conventions on Diplomatic and Consular Relations, to which Egypt had acceded in the early sixties.

 With the beginning of the nineties, a process of restructuring the Egyptian diplomatic work took place.   

The process of reorganization was affected by the new international climate that prevailed in international relations at the beginning of the nineties, following the end of the Cold War and the disintegration of the Soviet Union. This  called for attention to the development of the Foreign Ministry to keep pace with international and regional changes related to the technological revolution, the information revolution, the growth of the phenomenon of international blocs and the emergence of the role of organizations  Non-governmental organizations in international relations in addition to the rise of the phenomenon of economic globalization.  This organizing process also aimed at modernizing the foreign policy decision-making process and enhancing the capabilities of diplomats in various fields of diplomatic work.

This organizational development was reflected in the work structure of the Ministry as follows:

1- Establishing and developing departments to deal with priority issues in the international arena.  Perhaps it is useful in this regard to mention the departments that were established to deal with a specific type of issues, such as the departments dealing with issues related to the arms race, development, human rights, the environment and non-alignment, in addition to the departments related to dealing with the United Nations, whether through its various organs or branches and affiliated organizations  .

 2- Cooperating  with the rest of the state’s agencies within the framework of a new form of collective work to blend the practical practice of diplomats and academic knowledge from outside the ministry.

 3- Developing the Institute of Diplomatic Studies with the aim of training and preparing diplomats and qualifying them for diplomatic work.

 4- Achieving more specialization in the departments of the Ministry based on geographical division, provided that departments are replaced by sectors.  Each sector includes a number of divisions distributed on a geographical basis to divide the geographical regions into sub-regions and homogeneous divisions, as sections with similar interests have been merged into one sector.  The official responsible for each of these sectors shall have the rank of Assistant Minister.

As for the current Ministry of Foreign Affairs building, it is a giant building built on an area of ​​4800 square meters, and it consists of 42 floors, with a height of 143 meters and a total area of ​​73,000 square meters.   It consists of the basement with the entire surface of the building and the base consists of 6 floors with the entrance and 3 meeting rooms and offices. The tower consists of 30 floors that include the ministry’s services offices and administrative offices, and also four floors that include a large meeting room, two reading rooms, a computer, a restaurant, a cafeteria, two floors for air conditioning, elevators machines, and the last floor consists  From the helipad.

Bodies of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

 Egyptian Agency for Partnership for Development

 Institute of Diplomatic Studies

 Diplomatic Information Center.

 Cairo Center for Conflict Resolution and Peacekeeping in Africa.

 The Egyptian Diplomatic Club.

 The National Coordinating Committee for Preventing and Combating Illegal Immigration and Human Trafficking (the committee reports to the Prime Minister and is based in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs).

 The General Authority for the Finance Ministry Buildings Fund.