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Ambassador Soha Gendy, Minister of Immigration and Egyptian Expatriate Affairs, said that the Ministry and the Egyptian authorities have made many efforts to help the Egyptians in Gaza and their return to Egypt, by receiving calls for help and accurately determining their locations, through the crisis cell permanently held in the Ministry of Immigration.

She added in an interview with Masrawy, the second part of which will be published later, that Egypt rescued 30 Canadians of Egyptian origin and helped return them to Canada, at a time when Canada could not do anything about them, despite them obtaining its citizenship.

She also revealed the full details of the “Egyptians Abroad” application, which the ministry is preparing to launch soon, stressing that it offers many advantages and saves time and effort for its users.

She pointed out that the Ministry of Immigration provides many services and initiatives that serve Egyptians abroad and at the same time benefits the government by providing dollars. And to the text of the dialogue..

• The State Information Service recently announced the return of 2,623 Egyptians from Gaza since the beginning of the Israeli aggression until now. How did the Ministry of Immigration deal with them and help them while they were in Palestine?

– In order for the Ministry of Immigration to accurately determine the areas of presence of Egyptians in Gaza, we regularly received calls for help and messages from them or from their relatives in Egypt, and we limited the number of all Egyptians present as much as possible and sought from the first minute to expel them from their places of presence, especially after the bombing increased significantly. It is kind of impossible for it to stop, and when it stops, there are fears for the lives of Egyptians, just as there are fears for the Palestinians, those in Gaza in particular.

We were keen to deal immediately with the Egyptians and the calls for help, which were not only from the Egyptians, but also from relatives of the Palestinians in Egypt, who were trying as much as possible to leave the Gaza Strip to save their lives, whether resorting to Egypt to live with their relatives or crossing through Egypt to other countries, and some of them went to Australia and others to USA, Canada and others.

We were in contact with everyone in Gaza, and calls for help received attention and priority in one way or another through the Crisis Cell, which was permanently held in the Ministry of Immigration, in order to deal with any type of conflict or disaster that our Egyptian children faced abroad.

We are trying to limit the number and communicate with them, because communicating with them was not an easy matter, taking into account that they sometimes hide at the bottom of the properties and there is no kind of communication unless one goes far away from all these events, which is not an easy process, in addition to the fact that the events make communication impossible.

This communication led to collecting all the lists and sending them immediately with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with which we opened a direct, fast, and connected line in one way or another around the clock, and we would communicate with our embassy, ​​whether in Tel Aviv or Ramallah, in the event that the ability to assist and intervene in one way or another was available.

This also happened with 30 Canadians of Egyptian origin, who were in Jerusalem and sought help from the Ministry of Immigration due to the bombing and tried to seek help from the Canadian embassy, ​​but it was unable to act or offer anything to them, and the conditions were very difficult and they did not have the capabilities to help others, even to help themselves. Things were difficult. for them.

As soon as these 30 Canadians contacted us, we contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and our ambassadors in Tel Aviv and Ramallah.

Our ambassador in Tel Aviv played a great role, because he changed everything to save these people. Most of them were elderly, but among them were young people.

He changed their flight tickets for them, in order to leave directly by buses through Jordan and then directly to Egypt and from there back to Canada.

The rescued Egyptians “talk and talk” about the great role that Egypt played, and they appeared on satellite programs in Canada and talked about the wonderful role that the Egyptian authorities provided once they confirmed that they were Egyptian through their identity cards and passport.

We immediately took the necessary steps to save them, while “they are in Canada and cannot believe themselves that a new life will be written for them because of Egypt.” Although they obtained Canadian citizenship, the one that was able to provide them with this difference is the mother country, not the modern country to which they belong. With the new nationality.

• Many statements are issued by officials confirming a decrease in remittances from Egyptians abroad, which has caused less dollar inflow to Egypt.. But what are the main reasons behind this decrease?

– Many reasons came together at the same time, including that the whole world is going through successive crises that began with Covid-19, then crises following earthquakes and hurricanes in different countries and the Ukrainian-Russian war, which led to an energy crisis, which in turn led to a global economic crisis, and in light of With its presence, the war broke out in Sudan and now the bombing in Gaza, and the inhumane conditions that exist there.

We are talking about devastating crises that have befallen the world, and citizens cannot keep up with all these crises and get out of them, especially the global economic ones, which have led to everyone fearing for the money or savings from their salaries, and everyone wants to keep his money.

When Egyptians face any type of crisis, whether at home or abroad, they follow the same method, as the Egyptian is keen to keep his money with him and not put it anywhere else.

The situation and the global stage had a great impact, and it cannot be denied that the presence of two exchange rates between the official and the other on the black market helped create a state of hesitation among Egyptians abroad.

• So.. How did the Ministry of Immigration face this crisis to compensate for the decline in remittances from the dollar?

We had to take action when we found this situation, because no one is afraid of tomorrow or a global situation. We tell him not to be afraid, and the Egyptian government in general understands the presence of these fears among any Egyptian, whether at home or abroad.

But we know that every Egyptian, especially those abroad, have needs and in any case they will be keen to transfer money to obtain the services they need.

No one can be forced to use his personal money, as everyone has the freedom to do so. At the Ministry of Immigration, we studied the needs of Egyptians abroad, and we found that when an Egyptian abroad returns to his homeland, he is keen to transfer his money so that he can buy a car, housing, or buy a plot of land for investment or… He buys savings certificates or buys an airline ticket… Hence, we tried as much as possible to provide alternative opportunities for transfer.

• What are the alternative opportunities provided by the Ministry of Immigration to provide dollars and serve Egyptians abroad?

We provided many initiatives, including “Your Pension Tomorrow in Dollars,” which we organized in cooperation with the Financial Supervision Authority, Misr Life Insurance Company, and the National Bank of Egypt.

All of these features and services were demands of the Egyptians, which they expressed during the “Egyptians Abroad” conference and were issued in the form of recommendations.. All our role is that we implemented that and through implementation we benefit the Egyptians abroad and also achieve a benefit for the state and the Egyptian government so that we create profit for all.

There are many packages for which we have agreed with the Insurance and Pensions Authority for Egyptians abroad, and they can pay the insurance pool and pension they want with the Authority through their platform from abroad.

There are many alternative means, and one of the most important projects that we developed and pursued, in implementation of the recommendation of Egyptians abroad, is the Egyptians Abroad Investment Company, and it was one of the most important projects that we worked on, just like the customs-free car initiative.

It was on the recommendation of the Egyptians Conference in Al Khaj and the goal was to create a company through which Egyptians abroad could invest in their country and present many projects. It was a private company.

We organized all meetings with all institutions, whether national or Egyptian communities abroad, in order to verify what is required to establish this company.

The state is not part of this company, and it is completely private with an ambitious capital of up to one billion dollars, and the number of founders is 10 individuals, and each of them pays 100 million dollars, and they began paying 10% initial expenses for the executive procedures for construction, and they will pay the rest of this money in capital. The company, as each of them establishes a company similar to the company in which he succeeded.

Some of them are successful in the fields of agriculture, export, import, electronic manufacturing, communications, green, new and renewable energy, tourism and many other fields.

They are excited about every new project, such as the cooperation protocol with the Bank of Egypt or the Egyptian Immigration Center. This giant national project that we started after presenting to President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and the Prime Minister that it should be a project that leads to training for employment for all workers present in Egypt, whether employment in Egypt. Or outside it through cooperation with many countries that have resorted to the Ministry of Immigration and request that Egypt support them and support the societal gaps they have in the labor markets, from the Egyptian workforce and expertise that can help them, especially in European countries, and there are many, many projects that serve Egyptians and we seek to The service is for Egyptians and Egypt as well, and both parties will ultimately benefit from this service.

• The Minister of Immigration plays an economic, diplomatic and social role. How do you carry out this mission to satisfy and serve millions of Egyptians abroad?

– I do not try to think about the difficulty because it exists, and I deal with them as if I were their mother, because this is my true feeling, and there is no mother who does not face difficulty in dealing with her children with their different requirements, and this matter is not a problem.

The main problem is to respond to all these requests and help every person of different ages, and I believe that everyone has rights and children of this great, strong country, which can reach all of its people.

They must have this conviction that Egypt exists for them and that “what is far from the eyes is not far from the heart,” and the state can come and save its children when they need this.

This is what we did with our children who are in areas of armed conflict, such as Sudan, or what is currently happening in Gaza or Libya, and the humanitarian disaster that occurred there and what happened to it because of the hurricane.

We are always there for them and we face difficulties, but they will not be like the difficulties faced by Egyptians abroad in times of crises and disasters.

It is not permissible for us to say to them, “We are tired,” and we must be present with them so that they feel that “there is someone whose heart is against them and the country has not forgotten them… I am completely convinced of this and my colleagues in the ministry are making great efforts and are not complaining about it, even though this comes at the expense of Their children and their homes, but patriotic duty takes priority in this matter.”

• The Ministry of Immigration is preparing to launch the application for Egyptians abroad.. What are the contents of the application and how can it serve Egyptians abroad?

– This application is “my dream.” Since I took over this important file and I was happy and honored by it, my dream was to have a simple phone application available on all the phones of Egyptians abroad, whether in the farthest or closest countries, and the Egyptian abroad can communicate with Egypt and know what it is. Incentives and services provided by the state.

If he wants to buy or sell anything, open a bank account, link deposits, buy a piece of land, or an airline ticket, talk to his relatives, communicate with the Ministry of Immigration, or learn about Egyptian news… all of this is available in one application, which is “Egyptians Abroad” and is available on mobile.

We have come a very long way regarding the application with the Ministry of Communications and signed a protocol with it to realize this dream. We have approached the first stage of the application, and we have nourished it with all the services and incentives we have that we have been able to provide to Egyptians abroad in cooperation with various institutions and putting it on the application.

There will be a second phase because we have much greater ambitions than that, and the first phase will be experimental so that we avoid any problems or errors, as happened with the implementation of the initiative for Egyptian cars abroad.

We try to make the application easy and simple, because among Egyptians abroad there are the scientist, the genius, the student, the student, the simple worker, the educated, the uneducated, the woman, the wife, the girl, and all kinds, and we want the application to be for everyone, so that it is easy to use and they can enter through the application and do what they want.

The application will include the “Market for Egyptians Abroad”, because they requested the provision of electrical products and appliances for their children for wedding preparations, and therefore we made all electrical appliance producers in Egypt access this application, in addition to providing Egyptian craft products to give as gifts to their families according to their request as well.

There will be a “link” to the Egypt Digital Portal, for anyone who needs to obtain a birth certificate or some type of identification document.

We signed a cooperation protocol with the Bank of Egypt, and we welcome any other bank that wants to be present on the Egyptians Abroad application to provide services.

The Bank of Egypt is in for a big surprise: during the next few months, it will have an electronic platform that will enable all Egyptians at home or abroad to open an account directly through the platform without the need to travel to Egypt or search for one of the bank’s branches in any country.

When this is available on the application, everything will be easier, in addition to making things easier for the Egyptian investment company abroad, because through the application and the platform it is possible to invest in the company that will have a window on the application.

The company will have an emergency fund for anyone who wants to exit and obtain his money or withdraw his money… and the application will be of benefit to all Egyptians abroad.