An opinion poll conducted by the Egyptian Center for Public Opinion Research (Baseera) shows that, among 26 countries, Saudi Arabia ranked top as the friendliest country to Egypt while Israel ranked top at the opposite end.

Baseera conducted the poll in May on a sample of 1551 citizens aged 18 and above across the country. The centre asked the sample if the 26 countries on its survey were very friendly, friendly, neutral, hostile, or very hostile.

According to Baseera, all top eight friendly countries were Arab, with Saudi Arabia leading the pack. “The positive rating of Saudi Arabia was the highest amongst respondents with less than university education and those aged over 50,” said the private non-partisan research centre.

The UAE came in second while Kuwait followed by Bahrain, Sudan, Oman, Tunisia and Morocco completed the top 8 countries.

“China was the highest ranking non-Arab country, coming in ninth place … Russia followed in tenth place,” Baseera said.

A surprise inclusion in the positive/friendly chart was Ethiopia which was regarded as a friendly state by poll respondents despite the dispute over the Renaissance Dam (GERD).

Six countries were listed in the negative chart viewed as hostile. Israel took the first place “with different categories of respondents showing very much the same reaction to Israel”.

The US was second on the list of hostile nations followed by Iran, Turkey, Qatar and Denmark.