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Will Sudan side with Egypt in Renaissance Dam dispute?

Ambassador Mohamed Orabi, chairman of the parliamentary Foreign Relations Committee, speaks about the disputed Halayeb and Shalateen regions and the Renaissance Dam.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (C) inspects a guard of honour upon his arrival at Khartoum Airport, ahead of a signing ceremony of an Agreement on Declaration of Principles between Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Project, in Khartoum March 23, 2015.  The leaders of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan signed a cooperation deal on Monday over a giant Ethiopian hydroelectric dam on a tributary of the river Nile, in a bid to ease tensions over regional water supplies. The leaders
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (C) inspects a guard of honor upon his arrival at Khartoum Airport, ahead of a signing ceremony of an Agreement on Declaration of Principles between Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Project, in Khartoum, March 23, 2015. — REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah

CAIRO — The Foreign Relations Committee in the Egyptian parliament is meant to represent the voice of the Egyptian people in the international sphere, rather than just the government’s official stance. It is in charge of several files such as the Renaissance Dam and the crisis over the disputed areas of Halayeb and Shalateen, among other issues. Al-Monitor spoke with Ambassador Mohamed Orabi, the interim chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee in the Egyptian parliament, former foreign affairs minister and a leader in the Support Egypt coalition, asking him about the most important laws submitted to the committee and its future role in Egypt’s foreign relations.

The text of the interview follows.

Al-Monitor:  As chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee in the Egyptian parliament, what do you think are the most important laws that were discussed by this committee?

Orabi:  The most important laws approved by the committee are the law on the extradition of prisoners between Egypt and other countries, the law on the recovery of smuggled funds and the National Defense Council law.

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