Pakistan University Awards Egypt President Honorary PhD

Pakistan's National University for Science and Technology awarded Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi an honorary doctorate in philosophy during his visit to Islamabad on Monday.

State television aired footage of Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf as he handed the certificate to Mursi.

During the ceremony, Mursi gave a speech referring to the role of Islamic civilizations in spreading science and knowledge that, according to him, led to the enlightenment of the West.

He also stressed on the importance of working hard to revive the Islamic world's leading role in literature, physics, chemistry and other sciences and fields.

The Islamist president departed Cairo this morning heading to Pakistan's Islamabad in an official visit that will be followed by another to India's New Delhi.

The last visit of an Egyptian president to India was made in November of 2008 by deposed leader Hosni Mubarak while Mursi's visit to Islamabad is the first of an Egyptian president since Anwar al-Sadat's in 1974.