Change of plan: Mursi skips D-8 summit, sends his deputy instead

Mursi was scheduled to address a joint session of parliament in Islamabad.

ISLAMABAD:

Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi has cancelled his trip to Pakistan but has requested his deputy Mahmoud Mekki to represent him at the Developing Eight summit (D-8), officials said on Thursday.

Mursi, who helped broker a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, said in a statement that he would now stay home to monitor the truce. Mursi had been scheduled to address a joint session of parliament in Islamabad.

According to a statement issued by the National Assembly (NA) secretariat official, President Asif Ali Zardari had summoned the joint session of the parliament on Friday where the Egypt president was due to address, which now stands cancelled in accordance with the presidential order.

Officials at NA secretariat informed The Express Tribune that “the cancellation of the visit was not conveyed by the Egyptian foreign ministry.”

When contacted, an official confirmed that the Foreign Office was not aware that President Mursi had bowed out until the arrival of Egypt’s Vice President Mahmoud Mekki, who now heads Egypt’s delegation at the D-8 Summit.

Mursi would have become the first Egyptian president to visit the country in almost four decades had he gone ahead with the trip.


Published in The Express Tribune, November 23^rd, 2012.