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Ambassadror Shoukry Feels at Home in the South
June 18, 2010
The American South, Sameh Shoukry says, has a lot in common with Egypt. He knows comparing the Bible Belt to Muslim country in North Africa probably sounds odd. But Shoukry, Egypt’s ambassador to the U.S., has a built a career on finding common ground.
“The South is associated with hospitality and warmth, which is a shared value structure in much of the Middle East,” he says in an interview. “They’re societies that put great value in terms of family and extended family. There’s a natural demeanor of receptiveness, of people being welcoming, being open. This is a common issue between Southerners and Middle Easterners.”
Shoukry, a career diplomat who was named Egypt’s ambassador in 2008, came to The Ballantyne Hotel & Lodge in April for a reception and dinner with the Middle East Council of the Carolinas. It was part of a two-day trip to Charlotte that took him to UNC Charlotte for a lively question-and-answer session with students and to a lunch hosted by the World Affairs Council of Charlotte.
In his appearances, he stressed the strong historic bonds between the U.S. and Middle East, and said that the reality of Egyptian life might contrast with American’s perceptions of the greater Middle East.
“It’s important for Americans to know that this generation in Egypt grew up admiring the U.S.,” he says. “It’s a very receptive society and one that harbors no ill feelings toward Americans, but it more likely to pamper them.”
Other stereotypes of the Middle East don’t apply to Egypt, he says: Unlike Palestine or Iraq, Egypt is safe. And the role of women in Egypt is “quite progressive.”
Misconceptions also cut the other way. When he’s home in Egypt, he says he tells his countrymen that America is different from what’s depicted on “Dallas” and “Desperate Housewives.” In Egypt, films, television and other media create a caricature of the U.S. as an uncaring, materialistic society with “liberal morals,” he says.
Shoukry has traveled throughout the U.S., though this was his first visit to Charlotte. He’s pleased, he says, that the region seems to have a growing contingent of Middle Easterners. It also has commercial ties to Egypt.
Shoukry, 58, has lived with one foot in Egypt and one in the rest of the world even before joining his country’s diplomatic corps in 1976. His father was a diplomat, too, with stints in Washington, D.C., and the Philippines. He learned to like the lifestyle and enjoys representing his country. At UNC Charlotte, he seemed at ease answering questions from students – typically with a smile and in great detail – on a wide range of topics, including Yemini extremism, Indian-Pakistani relations and nuclear disarmament.
But serving in Egypt’s top diplomatic post can make for long days. Some mornings, his colleagues in Cairo – either oblivious or indifferent to the six-hour time difference with Washington – call as early as 5 a.m. From then on, it’s often a series of meetings or speeches, as well as overseeing a diplomatic staff of about 250.
It’s sometimes difficult to attract the attention of the right policymakers in Washington, he says. And his assignment is open-ended. Unlike, say, negotiating a treaty, being the Egyptian ambassador to the U.S. has no natural point at which the job is finished. Each day brings new issues.
Typically, days end with a dinner. On an average week, he and his wife host two dinners and attend another three or four.
“It’s a challenge to keep off the weight,” he jokes.
To read the original article, please click here.
For more information, please contact Lindsay Mize at (202)777-3540 or lmize@clsdc.com.
This material is distributed by Chlopak, Leonard, Schechter & Associates on behalf of the Egyptian Press & Information Office. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice, Washington, DC.