Imam calls for better ties
Dr Muhammad Sayid Tantawy, left, the grand imam of Al Azhar University in Egypt, meets Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont at Government House yesterday.
|
|
|
The grand imam of Al Azhar University in Egypt yesterday called for stronger educational ties with Thailand, including academic exchanges and more scholarships for Thai students wishing to continue their education at the world-renowned Cairo-based institution, a press statement from the government's website said.
According to the statement, Dr Muhammad Sayid Tantawy, who lunched with Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont, said his university had allocated about 80 scholarships for Thai students to study at Al Azhar each year, but would like to see stronger ties with universities in the country. The sheikh of Al Azhar also met with Army chief General Sonthi Boonyaratglin and was granted an audience with His Majesty the King afterwards. The sheikh leaves Bangkok for the deep South later today. He will be conferred with an honorary doctorate from the Prince of Songkhla University in Pattani. Separately, Surayud met with Abdullah Bin Ahdulmohsin Al Turkei, secretary-general of the Muslim World League, who paid him a courtesy call at Government House in the afternoon. The visits of two of the Islamic world's leading figures come at a time when the government has been struggling to contain the violence in the Muslim-majority South, where an ongoing insurgency has claimed more than 2,300 lives since January 2004.
|
