How Saudi Arabia Gifted Egypt a $43 Million Gas Shipment in 2011

One day in February 2011, Egyptian Finance Minister Samir Radwan called.

He had only recently been appointed. May he rest in peace.

May he rest in peace. He was a very, very good man.

And you were Foreign Minister. And I had just become Foreign Minister. He was calling you.

He said to me, "Mr. Ahmed, We have a serious financial deficit, and we have a serious gas shortage.

When was this? In February 2011? In 2011, in February.

And there was a ship carrying gas from Saudi Arabia.

It was supposed to unload at the port of Suez.

And it wouldn't unload unless Egypt paid.

The money. 43 million dollars. In cash. Cash for the— the shipment. The shipment.

Can you sort it out for me with our brothers in Saudi Arabia?

We didn't have 43 million. That wasn't what he said to me.

"Sort it out for me with our brothers in Saudi Arabia."

So I called Prince Saud Al Faisal, the Foreign Minister at the time.

My friend. May he rest in peace. I couldn't reach him.

They told me he was in Morocco with His Majesty King Abdullah.

May he rest in peace. So I called the head of Saudi intelligence, Prince Bandar bin Sultan.

A gentle, lovely person. The Saudis are good people. Very good.

I called Prince Bandar. There I was. I wanted to speak to the prince.

They told me he was in… in Morocco with His Majesty the King.

So I was at a loss. Who else could I call?

The foreign minister and the intelligence chief— who else could I turn to?

I don't know anyone in— I wasn't going to call the finance minister. He has no decision-making power.

Not even half an hour passed before Prince Saud called.

Half an hour later, he said, "What do you want?"

What are you doing in your country? What are you doing… in your country? Your country.

So I told him, "Well, things are as they are."

But we need the shipment released, and we'll pay for it once things settle down and you open up the resources for us.

He said, "All right, I'll see what I can do."

Three minutes later, Prince Bandar bin Sultan called.

"Yes, Ahmed, what do you want?" I told him the story, and I felt embarrassed.

I felt embarrassed that I'd called both of them at that level.

Because the principle is, if you call someone, you should stick with them until you see whether they can do it for you or not.

You can't work through two channels. This is one of the principles of diplomacy.

So I ended up feeling ashamed of myself.

But the circumstances are putting pressure on me.

The two of them called me again, one after the other, within ten minutes.

They told me King Abdullah gave Egypt gas as a gift.

A gift. 43 million dollars. The same thing Prince Saud did in 2013 or 2014, when the Europeans started to besiege us. To besiege us, and he went to Paris.

After the June 30 Revolution. He visited Rome and London and said, “Stay away from Egypt.

Keep your hands off it, because it was a moment of tremendous weakness for Egypt that we have suffered from up until now.

We received full support from Saudi Arabia.

And after that, from the entire Gulf. The UAE, Kuwait, and the whole Gulf.

So don't forget these principles.