HANDS is pleased to announce another successful exchange in our annual American Egyptian Dialogue program. The distinguished leaders who were members of the Egyptian delegation included:

  • Mr. El Sayed Mahmoud Ahmed Hussein Elsherif, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives and Head of the Ashraf Council
  • Dr. Emad Gad Badras, Member of the House of the Representatives and Deputy Director of al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies
  • Dr. Mona Toema Abdelhamid Elgarf, Associate Professor of Economics at Cairo University and recent Chair of Egyptian Competition Authority
  • Mr. Hamdy Osman Ashour Osman Rizk, Editor-in-Chief of Al-Masry Alyoum
  • Rev. Dr. Andrea Zaki, President of the Protestant Churches of Egypt
  • Mrs. Samira Luka, Senior Director of Forum for Intercultural Dialogue

The group began their dialogue experience in Chicago with events at Chicago Theological Seminary and the Parliament of the World’s Religions. There, they engaged in cross cultural and interfaith dialogue and explored issues of commonality with  their American counterparts. For the second leg of the dialogue, the delegation flew to our nation’s capital in Washington D.C. to attend meetings with members of the U.S. Congress, the State Department, and civil society groups.

This Egyptian American Dialogue is one way HANDS works to improve understanding between Egypt and the United States. While our other initiatives focus on young leaders, this program targets established professionals with significant spheres of influence.

CEOSS and HANDS would like to thank Global Ministries of United Church of Christ and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), for its support in making this event possible!  We are also grateful to CEOSS in Egypt and our U.S. partners, including the National Council of Churches, United Church of Christ, and Churches for Middle East Peace for their partnership in this event.