Newly Appointed US Ambassador Arrives to Cairo

Officially announced as a new US Ambassador to Egypt, Jonathan Cohen has presented his credentials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday, filling in the vacant but significant post since 2017.

The news was announced in a press release published by the US Embassy in Egypt.

Cohen, who takes the highest ranking position of the US embassy to Egypt after Thomas H. Goldberger’s interm serving as Chargé d’affaires, was officially sworn in last week.

The last US serving ambassador to the country was Robert Stephen Beecroft, from 2014 to 2017.

The U.S. Embassy in Cairo is pleased to announce the arrival in Cairo of the new U.S. Ambassador to Egypt, Jonathan Cohen. Ambassador Cohen presented his credentials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on November 17, 2019. Please find his full bio here: https://t.co/scPosoUjEH pic.twitter.com/t61Qwh0kuH

— US Embassy Cairo (@USEmbassyCairo) November 17, 2019

The ‘Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Arab Republic of Egypt’, also served as the Acting Representative of the United States to the United Nations; he also has extensive foreign service experience in France, Turkey, Iraq, Sweden, and Thailand.

Alternatively, Yasser Reda is Egypt’s ambassador to the United States of America, based in Washington D.C.

For years Egypt has maintained a close relationship with the US, with amicable relations noted between Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi and US President Donald Trump.

At the beginning of the month, US Secretary of the Treasury, Steven Mnuchin, and the President of the World Bank, David Malpass announced their involvment in smoothing the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) negotiations between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan.

A deadline to the negotiations was set to January 15, 2020.

Moreover, the US is a large financial contributor to the country. Since the Camp David Accords, Egypt has been benefiting from an aid package from the US since 1978 which totaled over $US 30 billion.

Currently, after Israel, Egypt is the second largest recipient of foreign assistance from the U.S. according to the American Chamber Commerce in Egypt.