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Al-Ahram Weekly 14 - 20 September 2000 Issue No. 499 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 14 - 20 September 2000 Issue No. 499
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region Interview International Economy Opinion Culture Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Mohamed Abdellah: a diplomat
Mohamed Abdellah, 54, was chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the outgoing People's Assembly. He is chairman of the NDP's foreign affairs and Arab relations committees and vice-president of Alexandria University.
Abdellah's parliamentary career began in 1979 when he was elected as NDP deputy for the Alexandria district of El-Montazah at the ripe age of 33. This made him the youngest member of parliament. Despite this fact, he was chosen to serve as deputy chairman of parliament's foreign affairs committee. The chairman at that time was the late Fouad Mohieddin. When Mohieddin was appointed prime minister in 1982, Abdellah became the committee's youngest ever chairman. For some 20 years, Abdellah travelled to numerous countries on behalf of parliament or the NDP, thus earning himself the title "Egypt's No 1 parliamentary diplomat". According to Abdellah, parliamentary diplomacy is crucial for a key regional country such as Egypt if it is successfully to explain and promote its policies, particularly in the forums of Third World countries.
Born in 1946 in Alexandria, Abdellah graduated from the Faculty of Commerce, Alexandria University, at the age of 20 and returned to lecture there after obtaining a Ph.D. in economics from Paris University in 1973.
He was one of the 100 founders of the National Democratic Party in 1978 and soon became NDP secretary-general for Alexandria. In 1982, he was appointed to the NDP's general secretariat.
