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Official campaigning for Egypt's parliamentary election will begin on Wednesday and end on Nov. 26, two days before the first round of voting starts, the election commision said on Tuesday.

The elections are the first free polls in the Arab world's most populous state after decades of one-party rule under President Hosni Mubarak, who was toppled in a popular uprising in February. More than 50 parties are competing in the new electoral landscape.

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Egypt's ruling generals will ratify within days a law barring anyone found guilty of corruption from political life, a senior minister said on Monday, a move to curb the influence of ousted President Hosni Mubarak's former allies.

Wealthy people in Egypt were often members of Mubarak's now defunct National Democratic Party who used their political connections to advance family and business interests.

Egyptians who rose up against Mubarak's three-decade rule in January worry that his associates, some of whom are facing trial for graft and abuse of power, could be re-elected to the new parliament.

Ali al-Selmi, deputy prime minister for political development, said the new law would prosecute officials found guilty of financial crimes and abuse of power.

Even those elected to parliament would not be immune, he said. Voting for the lower house begins on November 28.

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In 2008, breast cancer caused 458,503 deaths worldwide and is more than 100 times more common in women than men.

Helping to raise awareness, promote preventative well care and health care, and treatment and support, is World Breast Cancer Awareness month, October 2011.

While breast cancer is a global issue, in Egypt, the figure for people suffering from breast cancer is alarming. According to official statistics of the National Cancer Institute (Cairo University), breast cancer accounts for 35.1% of the cases of cancer in Egypt and is the most prevalent cancer among Egyptian women. In Egypt, the median age at diagnosis for breast cancer is ten years younger than in the United States and Europe.

According to the National Cancer Institute in Cairo, many Egyptian women fail to seek medical treatment or preventive screening, making it more difficult to treat cancers and by the time breast cancer is detected in Egypt, it is often advanced.

Challenges for Egyptian doctors treating breast cancer include late detection and the lack of awareness about the disease. To combat these challenges, several active foundations and programs are working to raise awareness of breast cancer. They are educating women about the disease, teaching women to conduct breast exams on themselves, and encouraging them to visit a doctor once a year for a medical breast exam.

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Karim Helal, the former CEO of CI Capital, is known in the world of investment banking as a visionary for his key insights into the Egyptian market and his approach to banking and transactions.

After joining CI Capital in 2008, Helal launched the company’s first small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) fund in Egypt as well as the Look East Initiative that builds entrepreneurial ties between Egypt and the Far East.

“I always believed in SMEs — my whole approach was really to engrain the culture of integrity all the way in [its] relationship to banking,” he says.

One project that Helal is excited about, and understandably so, is the ASEAN Egyptian Business Association, a newly established NGO that Helal is chairing which develops relations between Egypt and ASEAN countries. (It is also one of the first business associations to be established after the January 25 Revolution.)

The organization will help bridge gaps on issues like trade and investment laws and create cultural exchanges, which will in turn foster business opportunities, explains Helal.

“It is time that Egypt developed a really strong relationship with these nations of the world. It is a market which has 700 million consumers and has developed expertise and skills in so many areas that we need, it doesn’t make sense that we are lagging so much behind,” he says.

Helal was also recently appointed the Saudi Egyptian Business Counsellor, a position he hopes will foster economic investment relations between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, one of Egypt’s most important regional trading partners.

Journey to success

Helal’s path has always been tied to banking. In 1971, he graduated from Cairo University’s Business School and began his career with the Arab International Bank. After a few months, he moved to the Arab African Bank and helped establish the first international finance department in Egypt. The youngest manager at that time, Helal’s dedication made him a prime candidate to open a branch in Bahrain in 1978, where he stayed for four years.

“I went straight into banking — it’s like I always knew what I wanted to do,” he says. Later on, he managed another bank based in Bahrain that had branches in Hong Kong, Malaysia and London, where he eventually lived for 10 years. He set up a boutique investment bank there in 1982.

When Helal came back to Egypt in the early 1990s, his took a break from banking and learned how to scuba dive. But his business drive couldn’t be dampened, leading him to turn his scuba hobby into a small business that helped establish scuba diving schools and diving centers across Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada. He was integral in introducing professional diving techniques to local instructors and formalizing the business of diving in the two cities. He also founded the first NGO for diving and water sports and was the first chairman of the Touristic Chamber of Diving and Water Sports.

Helal says his goal was promoting Egypt as a dive destination internationally, as well as convincing people that diving has the potential to be a multi-million pound business here. In addition, Helal wanted to create job opportunities for Egyptians in a sector usually dominated by Europeans due to the expense of training and an unfair social stigma attached to Egyptian diving instructors.

Both reasons led him to launch a sponsored program in Hurghada to train 20 young Egyptians as diving instructors for free.

“They graduated as instructors and the only thing I asked from them was to train 10 Egyptians to create a pyramid. They have all been working. Some have their own diving centers or became managers, and it just changed their life. If you give somebody a chance to change their life, their whole life is turned around,” he says.

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The bank is the brain child of innovator Mahmud Emara. Because the country’s government is still in transition and struggling under funding pressures, there is less government funding for projects and initiatives. Private investors are also leery of spending big bucks, due in part to the market instability. Seeing an opportunity to promote homegrown talent, Emara helped form the innovation cabinet under the bank’s auspices.

“These coming months are almost dead and no one will invest in Egypt, so the bank team is collecting all the good ideas with all their studies and will make them ready for implementation so when the next government comes we will be ready and start automatically or even start what we can now with investors’ help,” says Emara.

Its role is to evaluate ideas submitted by Egyptians on the innovate.cabinet.gov.eg/IBS website. Before being accepted, proposed projects must meet several requirements, including readiness for testing and implementation as well as proven benefits to the country. Afterward, Bank El-Afkar will conduct further studies, if necessary, to help obtain governmental approval and, most importantly, find investors to finance the projects as well as broker deals. So far, the idea has been an unfettered success: The bank began receiving ideas in April 2011 and now has 2,000 submissions.

Getting approval

The concept of innovation banks was first discussed in 1987 at a conference in Paris at the behest of Ahmed Lotfy, Egypt’s prime minister at the time.

“Many people have tried to push this idea through, but under the previous regime no one listened. Many youth and Egyptians in general have lots of ideas to develop Egypt but yet nothing happened,” he says.

Emara, who also works for the cabinet, has a Master’s in political science from l’Université Paris-Sorbonne and spent 25 years in France where he built companies. Upon his return to Egypt, he began looking for ways to give back to his home country.

Last February, Emara contacted Prime Minister Essam Sharaf and discussed the idea of the bank. He says the prime minister immediately approved of his program and has been one of the bank’s greatest supporters since. More than a year later, the government is supervising and coordinating efforts with Bank El-Afkar to take the best and brightest ideas to fruition.

Several of the ideas are in final discussions, including Fawzy Hammad’s proposed project to further develop the marina in Suez. An engineer with 18 years of experience working at the Suez Canal, Hammad took his plan to commercialize the marina with repair shops, food outlets and other value-added ship services to the bank because he needed help managing such an undertaking. His hope is that by mimicking other international ports, he can help Suez generate more income and improve the canal’s shipping services.

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The Egyptian Football Association (EFA) has signed former US team coach Bob Bradley to lead the Pharoahs, with the job comes the task of not only adopting to Egypt's soccer atmosphere, but also of turning fans' dreams into reality by qualifying for the 2014 World Cup.

As he signed his contract with the EFA Saturday, 53-year-old Bradley told reporters he is aware of the "difficult mission" ahead and has a plan to form a new, strong team that is able to qualify for the 2014 championship in Brazil.

Soccer experts say achieving this will not be easy, despite Bradley's admirable record with the United States over the past five years, most notably qualifying for the final match of the 2009 Confederations Cup in South Africa.

Bradley succeeds Hassan Shehata, one of Egypt's most renowned coaches, who led the team to three consecutive African Cup titles in 2006, 2008 and 2010.

"Generally, coaching has nothing to do with nationality, yet leading the country's national football team requires awareness of the atmosphere in which the game is played, which takes a long time," says Taha Ismail, FIFA's Cairo bureau manager and former coach of the Egyptian team.

According to Ismail, understanding the nature of the Egyptian player cannot be gained merely by watching local games, but requires deep study.

The announcement of Bradley's appointment comes at a time when there is little of the political support that Shehata enjoyed under former President Hosni Mubarak. In addition, the EFA is witnessing much instability as several board members have resigned and some clubs are calling for a confidence vote.

Gamal al-Zoheiry, chief editor of Akhbar al-Reyada, a weekly state-run sports newspaper, says "Bradley's success will depend on his ability to adapt to the largely unprofessional atmosphere of Egyptian soccer. We have problems setting championship schedules, not to mention administrative instability both at the EFA and football clubs."

According to Zoheiry, Shehata's nationality did play a role in his success.

"Shehata won political support for his successes, and I expect that will be the case with Bradley if he makes positive results."

The national team's performance has declined over the past year. The team already missed the 2012 African Cup hosted by Guinea and Gabon. Shehata resigned after two losses and two draws against lower ranked teams such as Niger, Sierra Leon, and South Africa.

Egypt dove to 36th in the FIFA ranking in September, down from the ninth position in July 2010.

Egypt has only qualified twice for the World Cup, in 1934 and 1990. Observers see a big contradiction between the team's sweeping African success and the "unjustified" failure in the more famous world competition.

Bradley says the Egyptian league is rich in skillful players that can help him build a new squad that combines expertise and youthfulness.

Read the full article here.

The launch event took place at the ministry's headquarters under the chairmanship of Ashraf Abdel Wahab, deputy minister of state for administrative development; and under the auspices of Mohamed Abdel Aziz, regional director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC); along with Marc Franco, ambassador of the EU delegation to Egypt.

According to Abdel Wahab, Egypt's partnership in the program is of vital importance since "the [25 January] revolution does not have a magic wand with which to make corruption disappear.

"We urgently need new legislation, the enforcement of existing laws and legal mechanisms, along with governmental reforms, public-awareness initiatives, and a radical shift in Egypt's understanding of corruption," said Abdel Wahab. "This process will take time."

Meanwhile Abdel Aziz spoke of "the emergence of a new era of transparency" in light of the uprising. The regional director of UNODC added that the Egyptian state – via the ministries of administrative development, justice, interior, and the public prosecutor – and civil society are now responsible for monitoring and combating "the multi-faceted problem of corruption."

"This project seeks to establish a national program to confront corruption in all its different forms, within set time-tables." According to Abdel Aziz, the combating of corruption and the recovery of national assets is the ambition not only of Egypt's recent revolution, but a common "aim and ambition of all the Arab Spring's uprisings."

When asked whether the UN and/or the EU would be able to recover Egypt's public assets abroad, Ambassador Franco commented that the Egyptian people are rightfully impatient and have high expectations in these regards. However, "assistance in the recovery of assets, from a legal point of view, is a very complex process."

Franco added that the EU has moved to freeze the assets and bank accounts of numerous Egyptian statesmen "to make sure the money stays as is." Yet the actual process of asset recovery may take several years, according to Franco.

Abdel Aziz added "it took Nigeria over five years to recover assets from abroad, and in the Philippines it took over 18 years to recover funds and assets smuggled from the country under the rule of Ferdinand Marcos."

He went on to say that in Egypt "we must overcome our emotional demands, and the demand that we want our money right now. These actions entail complicated processes, investigations, and must be taken in accordance with a host of laws. Therefore, this process will take a long time."

Read the full article here.

In the early 1990s, if you wanted to surf the internet, you had to be a very patient individual. First, you had to wait for a dial tone to call the internet service provider (ISP) and then endure a series of annoying beeps and tones. Finally, a terminal screen would pop up, where you could type your username and password.

This series of steps opened a gateway unlike anything the world had seen. Although getting online wasn’t as easy as it is today, the sheer number of commercial possibilities of the technology could not be ignored, even then. In 2000, Egypt entered the digital age by offering broadband access, heralding the end of the days of dialup.

With over 220 ISPs offering broadband at relatively cheap prices, internet penetration started to rise. Now there are over 25 million internet users, up from just 450,000 users in 2000. These figures mean Egypt has one of the highest penetration rates in the region at almost 30%.

The swelling number of users on the web represent a huge, mostly untapped, market for businesses. Currently the majority of content Egyptians see is foreign, whether they are shopping online, reading news and entertainment or logging onto social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.

As more of their lives become virtual, users are demanding greater accessibility via mobile technology and wireless hot spots. They are also lobbying for more products and services to be available on the web such as online banking and bill payment as well as cheaper, faster internet and local content.

The ever-growing list of demands hasn’t yet been met, making it only a matter of time before every business, organization and government office realizes the potential and, if they haven’t already, invests both time and resources in their own online presence, say experts.

Investors are already putting money in online ventures — some online businesses have been recently acquired at 10 times their earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, a testament to the kind of return companies predict they will make. A recent example includes Nefsak.com, a online shopping portal that was acquired in part by investment bank EFG Hermes.

A world full of treasures

Mona Afifi, partner and co-founder of the country’s first online boutique Style-Treasure.com, shared her experience in the online realm. According to Afifi, the time for Egypt’s internet boom has come.

She and her partner launched the site with the aim of selling local designers’ clothing, jewelry and accessories, taking advantage of the fact that many young designers have trouble convincing stores to sell their products.

“The idea was to provide young, talented designers with a platform. Stores were not willing to take their products and chose to ignore them. Shop owners were still stuck at the phase of importing and stocking up with big expensive brands,” Afifi says. “My partner and I were very fond of several local brands and we used to wear them ourselves. We are both very passionate online shoppers, and we were always wondering why there weren’t any online stores in Egypt.”

The growing number of internet users combined with city dwellers moving to the outskirts of Cairo makes shopping in the flesh logistically difficult, a trend that has perhaps helped promote the popularity of online stores. Having an online shop also saves the overhead costs of having a physical store.

At the start of the operation, Style-Treasure only featured three designers’ products. After two years, they now have 62 designers and their products, ranging from clothing to personal accessories, bags, shoes and a new line in the homes and gifts section.

“The homes and gifts section was only introduced last November, and it quickly flew to make up around 45% of our sales,” says Afifi.
The company only requires that the designers are legally registered and that the products are original and fairly priced. The idea is to maintain a certain level of quality without being marketed as couture.

Afifi says: “We want someone to be able to buy from our site once or twice a month and not have to spend their entire salary on a bag.”

In terms of sales, the site is doing well. Afifi says March is her benchmark to measure the site’s performance because of Mother’s Day. According to her, so far sales have doubled every March, month-on-month.

One of the factors contributing to the steady sales are the different methods of payment available. Style-Treasure offers cash on delivery, the most popular for local orders.

“Knowing that online credit card purchases don’t sit well with the Egyptian people, we offer cash on delivery to Egypt and 19 other countries. And cash on delivery is the top choice when it comes to local orders,” she says.

Some 70% of sales originate in Egypt with the bulk being in Cairo and Alexandria, but Afifi says that their products are being bought around the country. “Cairo and also Alexandria [are] a very big market. But you would also find other places that you wouldn’t expect [there] to be shopping online — like in Upper Egypt, Luxor and Aswan.”

The remaining 30% are divided among Gulf countries. In hopes of increasing that figure, Afifi plans to advertise her site abroad to help boost her sales.

“For advertising, I honestly think the real exposure came from Facebook and public relations. […] We are still a small company, and I would love to afford advertising outside of Egypt, I think there is a huge market out there that is interested in Egyptian products given the culture and heritage of the country” she says.

Afifi believes that the Egyptian online market is booming, and hopes to see more businesses go online, competition she believes will benefit the economy.

“We had no competition at the beginning and we were happy to enjoy two years without any competition. Now we are hearing of new online boutiques — and we are glad, and I think it is about time. Even existing shops need to have their online stores,” Afifi says.

What the sector is in dire need of at the moment is government support. According to Afifi, the previous government made online ventures and telecom infrastructure a priority. She says there are numerous designers, manufacturers and craftsmen that produce quality products and if the government provides the necessary support they could showcase their products to customers around the world and become an integral part of the economy.

“We have so many talents here as well as factories and workshops — we have it all. I really believe that with some government help, over the next five years these young designers would be contributing to Egyptian exports."

Read the full article here.

In the waiting room of the Minister of Tourism’s office on June 29, we both heatedly argued about the protests that had erupted the night before in Tahrir Square, resulting in violent clashes between police and citizens. We were at loggerheads: one supportive of the protesters and the other suggesting that the police perhaps had no other choice but to curb unrest to keep the country moving forward. The conversation soon started to attract the attention of others in the waiting room, including the minister’s assistant and our photographer.

We were not sure whether the activists — who were in Tahrir pelting stones at the Ministry of Interior and at Central Security Forces as we spoke — had become addicted to the adrenaline rush that came with revolting.

Fifteen minutes into the conversation, we were called into the meeting room, our venue for the interview. Inside, sunlight flooded the expanses of the large room, and Mounir Fakhry Abdel-Nour, the minister, courteously stood up to welcome us with a pale smile and, we assume, a mind half pre-occupied with the events of the night before.

The minister was laid back — if anything, he looked almost exhausted, although it was well before noon. His face was weary and he appeared to be making a conscious effort to listen closely while fidgeting with his iPad and two phones, on which, as it turned out, he was searching for stories from Tahrir on Google News.

With his reading glasses tilted and resting on his nose, he began to read out loud, in Arabic. “Police and protesters clashed last night as protesters pelted stones at security forces, and the latter responded with tear gas,” he read. “What’s the story? What’s happening?”
He looked up to us, and for a moment, he seemed as confused as we were.

When our photographer started snapping a few images — the heavy click of the camera cutting off our conversation — the minister trailed off and squinted uncomfortably. He asked us if it was necessary.
Abdel-Nour is not camera shy, but at the moment, publicity seemed like a burden.

The night before, state and satellite TV channels had broadcast live images from Tahrir Square showing physical clashes between a group of protesters and fully-armored police forces. The protesters, whose ranks (some claim) were infested by thugs, were breaking the sidewalks and using the rock to pelt the lines of security forces, who retaliated with canisters of tear gas, batons, water cannons, rubber bullets and possibly live ammunition, according to witnesses interviewed by Reuters. News agencies said the protesters were demanding that the trials of former regime officials proceed swiftly, and martyrs’ families, who were allegedly present too, be appropriately compensated for their loss.

By the next morning, the Health Ministry officially reported a casualty count of over 1,000, including 40 policemen. The economy took a hit as well, Reuters reported a 2.3% fall in the benchmark EGX 30 index, the biggest drop since June 2.

At this juncture, however, the details of what happened to stir this event were blurry, and it wasn’t clear who provoked the violence.

But this was not what we came to talk about. We had come to discuss tourism, latest figures, investment and notorious development projects. However, we quickly realized that the man in front of us was merely human. He was trying to answer our curious questions, to be professional and to sound “minister-like” by offering all the glittery promises that a cabinet official should give out to information-hungry journalists. But it seemed he couldn’t, and didn’t want to, keep the façade for long. As his voice faltered, and his forehead creased, he chose to be honest.

At that moment, he ceased to be the face of tourism — he was just an Egyptian who was concerned about his country and wanted to talk about it. “I heard the automatic rifle gunshots, as I sat in my house last night [in Zamalek, opposite the area where the clashes between police and protesters started]. Automatic guns. It went on for 15 minutes, non-stop. It sounded like war,” he said, naturally alternating between English and Arabic.

He paused, as if he remembered something far more important, and asked, “I didn’t offer you something to drink. What would you like to have?” Tourism is about hospitality, and who could be more courteous than the industry’s number one man himself?

Originally a real estate man, founder of two companies and Al Wafd party’s secretary general, Abdel-Nour took office on February 22, a critical time when many officials were rejecting cabinet posts following the January 25 Revolution. At the time, he was quoted by the press as saying that “rejection is the easiest thing in the world, but out of a feeling of responsibility, I have to accept the challenge.”

Before our meeting, the minister had recently completed two tours in Europe and the Gulf, where he met with his counterparts. He talked about tourism investment and development, in addition to religious tourism, and how to boost it. He was optimistic following his return, he said.

“We’re getting back on track all over the country. But Cairo is the worst until now,” he said. “Let’s look at June figures. During the first 15 days of the month, we were only down by 31%. We started at 80% decline. So that’s a huge improvement.”

Abdel-Nour said this with a heavy heart though — his assistant explained to us that the ministry’s efforts to control the damage caused by the uprising were always annulled by several outbreaks of violence.

“Workers’ protests I understand,” he said. “These are people calling for rights. It’s demonstrations like last night’s, where there’s violence and gunshots, that ruin everything. Any tourist would stay away from a country where there’s instability.”

After our first set of questions, the minister got the first of seven phone calls that took place while we were there — “I’m depressed,” he told the caller at the other end of the line. It sounded like a reporter trying to get a reaction quote. There was no way to tell, but it sounded like the minister had declined to comment.

Read the full article here.

CAIRO: Thousands of Egyptians prayed in celebration of Eid Al-Fitr in Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the protest that toppled long-time president Hosni Mubarak in February.

Thousands gathered bearing Egyptian flags to celebrate the first Eid, which marks the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, since Mubarak was overthrown.

"The square is ours. The country is ours," one man chanted before settling into the prayer.

"Today is a joyous day without Mubarak. Everybody knows Egypt will not return to what it was before January 25," Sheikh Mazhar Shaheen, who became the symbolic preacher in Tahrir during the uprising, said in his sermon.

"The next president must learn the lesson from his predecessor because the Egyptian people will not accept injustice ever again," he said.

Eid sermons, attended by Mubarak and his government, were typically broadcast across television stations in the past.

But on Tuesday, state television offered images of not just the official gathering, attended by the now ruling generals, but of the people gathered in Tahrir Square.

Men, women, and children held on to flags, waving them as Shaheen prayed for protesters in Syria and Yemen, who are also fighting the rule of their long-time presidents.

Cheerful children picked up balloons and toys being distributed by youth groups and political parties, including the April 6 Youth Movement and the Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiya.

In an official gathering, Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, heading the interim military council now ruling Egypt, gathered with military commanders and cabinet officials in a prayer lead by Egypt's Mufti, the country's highest religious authority.

Online activists listed telephone numbers for more than 680 mothers, whose sons or daughters were killed during the uprising, calling on Egyptians to celebrate Eid with them and reassure them that the revolution will continue until its demands are met.

"When you spend your first day of Eid, do not forget the martyrs, who went out to the unknown and took bullets into their bare chests," the activists said.

Read the full article here.

Investors have said Egyptian exports would benefit from rebuilding Libya following Qadhafi’s ouster, and projected that the trade balance between the two countries, which currently stands at US$3 billion, would double to US$6 billion.

They ruled out the possibility that US and European companies would get the lion’s share of rebuilding, as happened in Iraq, and projected that Egyptian companies would win 30 percent of prospective projects due to the proximity of both countries.

“Libyan companies have already started contacting us,” said Nasser Bayan, president of the Egyptian Association for Investment in Libya.

Read the full article here.

The trade union federation that ex-dictator Hosni Mubarak used to repress labour movements and mobilise regime support for sham elections during his 30-year rule has been disbanded, striking a powerful blow to the old order.

Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf ordered the executive board of the Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF) dissolved to comply with a court ruling that stipulated that the board was illegitimate because it had been selected through fraudulent elections. Labour activists say the board was stacked with loyalists of the now-defunct ruling party, who used their position to control the labour body's 3.5 million members.

"Since it was created in 1957, ETUF has been an arm of the regime… that has carried out the government's policies when it should have been looking after the interests of workers," says Tamer Fathy, a spokesman for the Centre for Trade Union and Workers’ Services (CTUWS), a local labour rights group.

Under Mubarak, draconian labour legislation required all unions to be part of ETUF, and generally prohibited strikes or collective bargaining unless approved by its syndicate heads.

Fathy says the federation propped up the regime by preventing workers from holding strikes or taking any action that challenged the state or its economic policies. It also mobilised large numbers of workers for pro-government rallies and bussed them to polling stations during elections to vote for the ruling party.

"Dissolving ETUF's board was a serious blow to the remnants of the regime," he says.

According to cabinet sources, the prime minister's order to remove ETUF's leadership aimed to enforce a 2006 court ruling that invalidated the federation's board after determining its leaders had rigged their own election the previous year. The former government had ignored the ruling.

The decision to carry out the court order just weeks ahead of scheduled board elections that would have brought in new leadership appears prompted by evidence that ETUF leaders paid and organised workers to attack peaceful protesters during the 18-day popular uprising that ended Mubarak's rule. There were fears the federation's member pool could be hijacked again for fraud and thuggery in upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections.

ETUF's disbanded board lashed out at the cabinet for what it described as a conspiracy to undermine the rights of Egyptian workers. Former officials argued that the 2006 court order was issued against the committees of the 24 syndicates that form the federation, not the board itself. They vowed to take legal action to have their positions restored.

"This was an illegal (action)," said one former board member, who declined further comment.

Mohamed Trabelsi, a regional specialist on union activities at the International Labour Organisation (ILO), says ETUF's power had been on the wane for years. A wave of wildcat strikes that began in late 2006 had stirred Egypt's long-quiescent working class, challenging the federation's authority and spawning the youth movements that played a decisive role in toppling the Mubarak regime.

The state-controlled labour body also faced a growing challenge from independent unions. Property tax collectors were the first to defy ETUF's monopoly on organised labour activity, declaring an autonomous union in 2009. Since then, dozens of worker and professional groups have organised themselves into independent unions.

Most of these associations have gathered under the umbrella of the Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions (EFITU), a parallel labour body that has cannibalised the membership of its state- controlled rival. Its members, estimated to number over 500,000, include postal workers, hospital staff, fishermen and transit employees.

Read the full article here.
 

As Egypt moves to write a new constitution, many are looking to secure more rights for women. That effort comes after decades of growing traditionalism in the country, including more use of Islamic veils. Many Egyptians do not see any contradiction, however, between the increasing use of veils and the push for more women's rights.

All across Cairo, women of all social and economic strata are wearing various types of Islamic veils - and the practice has increased markedly in recent decades.

Nearly 100 years ago, Egyptian women fought to get out of the veil.

But Egyptian Sociologist Saad Eddin Ibrahim said the practice has made a comeback.

"Well, first of all, the observation is accurate, that there are more women in veil, or behind the veil, than ever there were in modern Egyptian history," said Ibrahim.

Professor Ibrahim wrote a book about the early days of the return of the veil among students and professionals 30 years ago.

"The veiling was, in a sense, a compromise to be able to participate as fully as possible in public life without being perceived as lacking in ethics or morality or being loose. If veiling is the price, many women, many young girls, have accepted to pay that price," said Ibrahim.

That is evident on the streets of Cairo, where lawyer Noha Samir said she has been wearing a veil for many years.

"A hijab looks nice and makes me feel comfortable. I am committed to Islam, but I can also follow fashion - within limits," she said.

Other women have adopted the veil later in life, like social worker Magda Abdo el Zayad. But she said her unmarried daughter already is wearing one.

"As we got older we started to learn about things, about our religion that we did not know growing up. But my daughter is already veiled. Even when I urge her to go out sometimes without it, she refuses. She says she would feel naked."

Experts say some of Egypt's increased social and religious conservatism came from Saudi Arabia, conveyed by millions of Egyptian men, who went there to work and came home with different views of how women should behave.

But Azza Soliman of the Center for Egyptian Women said the change also came from women themselves, and is related to the country's recent history.

"There was a gap between what the people needed and what the government provided, so many people turned to religion to fill the gap," said Soliman. "And many women chose to express their new religious feeling by putting on the veil."

But most Egyptian women do not wear the full 'niqab,' which covers all but the eyes. Most wear some version of the 'hijab,' covering the hair and neck.

And many are quick to point out that they can be fashionable, even with a veil.

"Why not be elegant and at the same time be veiled? Why not? The hijab does not have to limit you," said homemaker Samia Hegazy.

"Just because a person is veiled doesn't mean she wears bad clothes. There is also very good clothing for the veil," said Dina, a homemaker.

Read the full article here.

The first stage of Cairo's third metro line will be finished in January, the Egyptian government said on Monday.

This part of the new line will link the districts of Attaba and Abbasseya, and tests on it will begin in October, Transportation Minister Ali Zine al-Abidine said.

The prime minister's cabinet agreed to extend work on the third line for three months, Abidine said, because of the security void, curfews and other issues related to January's uprising.

The Transportation Ministry expects that the third line, scheduled to be completed by 2013, will transport nearly 1.5 million commuters per day, which would help mitigate traffic jams in Cairo.

Read the full article here.

Egypt's finance minister said on Tuesday that tourism was showing signs of recovery and the country's foreign reserves of about $26 billion were adequate although it could tolerate a lower level if they fall.

Finance Minister Hazem El-Beblawi told Reuters that the Egyptian government forecast revenues from tourism would total $10 billion in the financial year that started on July 1, compared with $11.6 billion in 2009/10.

Reserves were $26.57 billion at the end of June, down $659 million on a month earlier but showing a much slower slide than earlier this year after an uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak scared off tourists and investment, two pillars of the economy.

Reserves were about $36 billion before the uprising.

Beblawi said the level of reserves was "reasonably good" and covered about six months of imports.

"I think that the actual level of the reserves is adequate and we hope to maintain this level, but I think the economy can stand even some reduction if there is necessity," he said.

He added that it was "not 100 percent sure that we will (keep this level) because we are not in normal circumstances."

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Optimism about the future of the Egyptian economy is based on solid facts, leading global companies to quickly return to Egypt. Those companies are eager to pump billions of new investment in the productive investment in the Egyptian market.

Among the companies is Carbon Holding Company which considered one of the major investment companies operating in the field of petrochemicals. On July 31, 2011 an agreement for establishing the Egyptian company for hydrocarbon was signed by capital of $ 150 million equivalent to LE 900 million with a total investment of LE 2.7 billion pounds equivalent to $ 454 million.

The company began implementing an Egyptian-Kuwaiti-Saudi project to produce ammonium nitrate and nitric acid in the Northwest region of the Gulf of Suez. This project is an important step toward attracting foreign investment to Egypt after January 25th Revolution.

This is declared by the large investment projects during the last period including the decision of "Glaxo Smith Kline Consumer Health Care Company to pump $ 500 millions investments in the health sector.

The US Intel company decided to possess an Egyptian company working in the field of research and development, while the Swedish Electrolux Company decided to possess 52% of the shares of "Olympic Group" with a value of approximately $ 350 million. The Turkish KCG announced to expand its investments in Egypt in three large projects by about $ 400 million in textiles, electric power generation using natural gas and operating coal mine in el-Maghar Mount at Sinai.

The mist important think is the trust of the businessmen and investors in the investment climate in Egypt. Egypt is opened on Arab and foreign investment and the government is committed to create enabling environment for attracting more local, Arab and foreign investment and implementing new developmental projects to promote the performance of the Egyptian economy.

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The revenue from Egypt's Suez Canal soared by 11.3 percent during the fiscal year 2010-2011 as compared to the previous year, the Suez Canal Authority said on Tuesday.

The canal recorded a revenue of US$5.54 billion by late June, the authority's head, Ahmed Ali Fadel, told reporters.

Egypt's fiscal year starts in July and ends in June of the following year.

Fadel reported that 18,050 ships passed through the canal in 2010, an increase of 3.1 percent.

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Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak arrived in a Cairo courtroom Wednesday, where he is expected to appear inside an iron cage to face trial on corruption charges — a powerful reminder of how much has changed since his ouster nearly six months ago.

Judges who got their jobs during Mubarak’s reign will preside. Egypt’s top prosecutor, appointed by Mubarak, will submit the charges against him. As the proceedings are broadcast live, millions in the country he ruled for three decades will be riveted.

Egyptian television broadcast picures of the former leader arriving by helicopter at the venue, a police academy, and then being driven by an ambulance to the makeshift courtroom. Earlier he was flown to Cairo by military plane from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Before his arrival, hundreds of Mubarak supporters and opponents clashed outside the venue, throwing stones and bottles at each other, the Associated Press reported.

“It’s a decisive moment in the history of the Egyptian people to see this ousted president behind the prosecution cage after seeing him portrayed as a divine figure on television for decades,” said Mahmoud el-Khodairy, a former judge who is a critic of Mubarak.
Mubarak is accused of graft and of ordering the killing of nearly 900 demonstrators who took to the streets during an 18-day uprising that ended when the country’s powerful military chiefs forced him to step aside in February.

The proceedings against Mubarak will serve as an important test of a judicial system that was once subservient to him. And they will probably be a jarring sight for other Arab autocrats who have long felt invincible. With the exception of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein’s U.S.-engineered trial, no other Arab leader in modern history has been held to account in front of his people. Former Tunisian president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, the first leader to be ousted in the Arab Spring, fled to Saudi Arabia but was tried and convicted twice in absentia.

Many Egyptians have grown weary of their country’s interim military leadership, led by Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, who was a defense minister under Mubarak, and have voiced doubt in recent months that the trial would go forward. But the military rulers, under growing public pressure to try Mubarak and other former officials, appear willing to proceed, and judicial and security officials have offered reassurances that the former president and decorated war hero will be tried.

Egypt’s health minister said last week that Mubarak was well enough to stand trial, despite assertions from the 83-year-old’s camp that he is in failing health. The interior minister said Sunday that officials were medically and logistically prepared to transfer Mubarak from the resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, where he is hospitalized, to Cairo. On Tuesday, security authorities were told to move him to Cairo overnight, the television news channel al-Arabiya reported.

At the national police academy in a Cairo suburb, “Lecture Hall No. 1” is being fashioned into a courtroom. A cage for the defendants — a fixture in Egyptian criminal trials — has been built for the occasion. The cage, about 25 feet wide and with iron bars, sits at the front of the hall and will contain Mubarak, his two sons, former interior minister Habib al-Adli and several other defendants, all dressed in white. The judges will wear black robes.

The roads from Tora prison — where Mubarak’s sons have been held since April — to the police academy will be under heavy security, and the government said that more than 3,000 troops and 20 tanks would protect the academy.

The judge overseeing the case will allow 600 people inside the hall, and the proceedings are likely to be brief and quickly postponed once the defendants enter their pleas and the two sides make requests that the judges must review.

“The question is, can he get a fair trial in the current political environment?” said Elijah Zarwan, an Egypt expert at the International Crisis Group. “There are new masters now, and, so soon after [Mubarak’s] fall, have they had time to gather the evidence in this case?”

A poll conducted this spring by the International Republican Institute, a U.S.-funded nonprofit group, showed that Egypt’s court system had higher approval ratings among the people compared with political parties, the independent media, the business community or state-run media. Mubarak’s trial was a key demand of the protesters, including many relatives of those slain during the uprising, who have camped out in recent weeks in Cairo’s Tahrir Square and were forcibly removed by the military on Monday.

But moving ahead quickly with the trial of the former president and his co-defendants also carries risks, analysts and human rights groups said.

They said that Mubarak’s excesses and abuses lasted 30 years but that his trial will encompass only a few corruption charges and his conduct during the revolution.

“There is such a focus on speed that one wonders how these proceedings are going to be conducted,” said Michael Hanna, an Egypt expert at the Century Foundation. “You would want to be systematic about creating an unimpeachable story about excesses and abuses for 30 years, not just 18 days.”

As the holy month of Ramadan — when Muslims fast from dawn to sundown and give alms — approached over the weekend, many Egyptians said they looked at the trial as a gift.
 

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Bankers would tell you that without their presence the economy would come to a halt; and perhaps there is a large degree of truth to that maxim. Without a healthy banking system, it would be difficult for investors to find financing or for traders to manage their transactions; foreign currency would be at the mercy of the black market and, most importantly, deposits would remain idle.

Over the last decade, the banking sector in Egypt has witnessed many shocks. However, never has it faced a popular uprising.

After the January 25 Revolution, concerns regarding the health of the banking sector began to surface. People were debating whether it was safe to leave their money in banks where they would witness an imminent collapse. Fortunately, no such horror occurred and the country’s central bank proved to be savvy during crunch time. Riding the sector’s stability, three experts gave their views on its future.

A safety net

The banking policies were truly put to the test during the past few months and in most cases they proved rather successful.

Since the appointment of Farouk El Okdah as Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) governor in December 2003, the banking sector has been subject to major reforms. According to a Reuters profile, El Okdah was responsible for tightly overseeing the sector’s lending procedures and for improving the management of the exchange rate policy.

He is also credited with developing an interbank foreign exchange market that kept the black currency traders at bay. According to Reuters, the country’s foreign currency reserves surged from $14 billion (LE 83.44 billion) to $35 billion (LE 208.6 billion) during his time in office.

After being characterized as fragmented and fragile, banking was transformed into a more solid and robust sector. The government started selling its shares in public joint venture banks to a series of foreign-led acquisitions with the aim of cleaning the banks’ balance sheets from the non-performing loans (NPLs) that marred it. Also, a number of consolidations and privatizations saw the total number of banks fall to 39 in late 2009 from 57 in 2004.

The sector’s avoidance of risky transactions such as derivatives and short selling spared the havoc of the global financial crisis of 2008–2009. Also, strict regulations by the CBE ensured that banks maintained healthy ratios and enough liquidity reserves, which allowed them to weather the storm.

However, the biggest stress test of the sector’s ability to endure difficult times was unquestionably the January 25 Revolution. Although healthy balance sheets and strong liquidity were enough to shield it from international troubles, they were not guaranteed to protect it from a depositor run-on.

With the uprising quickly spreading throughout the country, the CBE was swift to adopt measures aimed at controlling the outflow of liquidity by panicking depositors. Cash withdrawals by individuals were limited to LE 50,000 or $10,000 in notes daily, and not all bank branches were opened during the same time.

The CBE also tried to make life easier for dealers by offering a series of repurchase agreements, also known as ‘repos.’ Such transactions work by having the CBE accept money market securities from the banks and oblige them to buy back the securities at the sale price plus interest. This eased the rising demand for liquidity by giving bankers some breathing space while they found buyers for their money market securities in the open market.

Also, the foreign currency reserves played a vital role in supporting the economy post-revolution. Deputy Governor of the CBE Hisham Ramez was quoted on Al-Ahram Online as saying that the reserves would be adequate to cover withdrawals and transfers, and luckily he was right.

Not only did the reserves help the banks honor all transactions as Ramez put it, but they also maintained the exchange rate at an acceptable level as the CBE intervened by selling some of its dollars.

It is safe to assume that, as a regulator and supporter of the banking sector, the CBE has displayed time and again that it is up to the challenge.

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Egypt will participate in an international conference on how to support Libya's Interim Transitional National Council, the Egyptian state-run news agency MENA reported Tuesday.

Egypt will participate as an observer in the council's fourth meeting in Istanbul on Friday.

Rebels in eastern Libya formed the interim council after Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi's forces evacuated from the region. Several foreign countries treat the council as Libya's legitimate point of contact.

Ambassador Ayman Mesharrafa, assistant deputy foreign minister for the Maghreb affairs, will represent Egypt in the meeting.

The meeting will focus on a reconstruction plan for Libya and how to financially support the council.

Egypt took part in an earlier meeting for the contact group on Libya last month in the Emirati capital of Abu Dhabi.

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We cannot determine the next step in the Egyptian constitution building process until we know what kind of country we want. Last week, I mentioned that the first step in drafting a constitution was to designate the general principles that would define the philosophical and moral framework of the state.

Fortunately, after months of din and commotion in the controversy over which should come first, the constitution or parliamentary elections, there now appears a way to bridge the gap. It is to hold elections as scheduled but to take a measure that would alleviate the widespread fear that the elected assembly would produce a distorted constitution.

That measure is to draw up another document, one that other countries have, called a bill of rights, or declaration of supra- constitutional principles that the drafters of the constitution can not supersede. I propose that such a bill be put to a vote at the same time as the constitution, so both would have equal legitimacy.

The national dialogue -- or dialogues -- have already produced several documents, perhaps the most important of which was produced by Al-Azhar and was warmly greeted by Egyptian Christians. Another was drafted by Mohamed El-Baradei and the National Association for Change and reflects a greater appreciation of the dangers of political polarisation in Egypt. The Democratic Coalition and the Egyptian Economic and Social Party drew up a couple of others.

The four are quite similar to each other and to others that have appeared, so it seems that now some group should pull all three together into a single document that we can then refine and develop into a lengthy list that will set the agenda of political action.

If one camp of opinion continues to hold that the constitution should come first, to the other it must come first, too, albeit after parliamentary elections. Clearly then, it is essential that we turn our minds to the system of government we want and this, in turn, must stem from a vision for our country. In this regard, I believe there are several points we can all agree on:

First, there can be no going back. Yet while most people would immediately think that this refers to the last 30 years, I suggest that it is wiser to extend "back" not only to the last 60 years, dating from the 1952 Revolution, but even before that to the monarchic era. Simply put, these eras are now history. Countries that live in the present and for the future do not turn the clock back; they forge a new history.

Second, we want a country that is truly democratic, in the sense universally understood around the world and not according to some invention of our own, founded upon the peaceful rotation of authority and respect for human rights. During his visit to Al-Ahram last week, Mahathir Mohamed remarked on how painful democracy was because it had winners and losers, and authority vested in institutions and power in the street.

Several weeks earlier, an article of his appeared in the New York Times on the subject of the Arab Spring. He said that the Arabs talk a lot about democracy but, sadly, they do not realise that it comes at the cost of the prevalence of certain values based on individual liberties and of the rule of institutions and law, as opposed to ruling cliques and decrees. He may be right. But in spite of all the pains we can anticipate, democracy is what we need because the only alternatives are to go backwards or plunge into chaos.

Third, we want a state that is effective and efficient, one that can get things done. I am not referring only to a state that can perform the obvious -- clean streets, education for all, proper public and private healthcare, smooth-working public utilities -- but also to one capable of competing in the global race, as so many other countries have succeeded in doing.

We hear quite a bit about Turkey these days, but what most strikes me when I read about it in the foreign press is that its name is almost always appears in conjunction with the note that it has the 16th largest economy in the world. Countries are no longer gauged by the size of their armies and the number of their transcontinental missiles, but by the percentage of their contribution to global production and other such indexes that determine their international ranking. As they say, the rest is detail.

Fourth, we want a state that exercises a regional role. Our constitutions from the republican era always insisted that Egypt is part of the Arab nation and that it would work to achieve its unity. Frankly, I am not sure whether our new constitution should include this provision or leave it up to policymakers.

However, we do need to bear in mind that we are part of the Arab region and the Middle East, and that the sources of our life spring from Africa. At the same time, we are part of the world whose distances are shrinking and in which proximity is no longer determined geographically but by the volume of mutual trade, the movement of goods and labour, and the frequency of daily communications, which these days can occur hundreds of times a second.

Therefore, the very concept of a regional or international role is far more complex than ever, and we have examples of countries whose regional and international influence rest on conventional sources of power, such as arms, ideology and intelligence, and others whose influence rests on new forms of power and influence and on broadening and diversifying interests and ways of generating wealth.

Discussion of details will probably come at a later phase. For the moment, however, we have an Egyptian consensus over no reversion to the past, true democracy, effective government and an influential regional and global role for our country. Our new constitution has to lay the foundations for this aspiration and its fulfilment within the coming decades. We should bear in mind, in the process, that we will be a source of inspiration to other countries in the region that are being swept by revolution and that are groping their way forward in a climate of upheaval and murky horizons.

Nor should we forget that our constitution will be the first concrete step, the first letter of introduction, with which Egypt presents itself to the world in a new and unfamiliar form, not as a monarchy out of the Middle Ages with a king who possess and rules all, not as a Third World republic with its "democracy of the masses" that has proven just another word for authoritarian despotism, but as country truly determined to enter a new, original and vigorous phase in its history.

I believe that the only way forward is through a democratic presidential republican system of government. I have expressed and amplified on this opinion on numerous occasions before and after the 25 January Revolution. At the time of the discussions on the constitutional amendments in 2005, I laid out a conception of the type of constitution that I envisioned for Egypt and I reaffirmed this conception very recently when the prospect of a new constitution became a certainty.

I am fully aware that my view does not coincide with the general run of opinion, which favours a parliamentary republic, something along the lines of an improved and updated version of what existed before the 1952 Revolution. Nor do I fall within another camp of opinion, albeit less numerous, that admires the French-style reconciliation between the parliamentary and presidential forms of government as a way to benefit from the advantages of both systems at once. To me, both these trends are influenced by the classical European experience.

In spite of the accomplishments of these models in the countries in which they were applied, few other countries in the world have followed suit. Indeed, the virtually universal trend among countries similar to us that are undergoing democratic transition, in South America, Eastern Europe and in Asia, is to opt for the presidential system.

In Turkey, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is pushing for constitutional amendments that would change his country's parliamentary system to a presidential one. But even in Western Europe, the prime minister (in Britain) or the chancellor (in Germany) has, over the years, acquired a status more akin to the president than to the head of a cabinet formed by the majority party in parliament.

In fact, French President Nicolas Sarkozy asks less like a part of the parliamentary system that brought him to power and more like the president of a republic along the lines of the American system. Anyone who doubts this might try to recall the name of the French prime minister, who is supposed to be a partner in power, whether he hails from the same party as the president or from an opposition party.

What amazes me today is that after all the time and ink that was spent attacking Article 77 of the 1971 constitution because it did not limit the number of terms a president could serve, and then, after that article was finally amended to restrict the presidency to two four-year terms, a large body of opinion now wants a parliamentary system in which the president would be little more than a figurehead. Meanwhile, under such a system, the prime minister could theoretically rule for life if the people insisted on voting his party back into power with him as its head.

There are certainly finer points we could discuss when the time comes. For the moment, however, I will say that the parliamentary system may have been successful for some countries at their particular point in political evolution, but it was no coincidence that a country such as the US invented the presidential system.

Its founding fathers had their sights cast forward; not only did they want their new country to catch up to those that preceded it, they wanted it to surpass them and become a great power. This might be a useful point to bear in mind as we continue our conversations on the constitution.

While the world's eyes watched protesters in Tahrir Square in the run up to Egypt's revolution, state television -- based just down the road -- showed tranquil images of boats on the Nile.

It was largely left to independent media to risk state reprisals for reporting what was really going on in the days before the fall of former president, Hosni Mubarak.

Now both independent and state media are testing their new-found freedom in post-revolutionary Egypt.

New management at Egyptian State Television are trying to re-establish the channel's credibility and viewing figures, introducing political debates to the schedules and changing the mindset of journalists who are not used to challenging authority.

Nihal Kamal, Head of Egypt State TV, said: "Egyptian State TV lost its credibility during the period of the revolution because the TV building is only 500 meters away from Tahrir Square, during the revolution the channel's camera was reporting on the tranquility of the Nile and the boats sailing in the river and ignored the revolution at Tahrir Square when all the other channels were reporting on the revolution."

Although the channel is still answerable to the military government, Kamal said management had not received any instructions from above.

"Programs air freely and it's left to the presenter to decide who to talk to and what to talk about," she said.

Much has been made of the role of social networking in Egypt's revolution, but traditional media also shaped -- and has been shaped by -- events in Tahrir Square.

A recent poll conducted by the U.S.-based International Republican Institute suggested that most people turned to television rather than social media for their news during the revolution, with Facebook accounting for as little as 6%.

Two presenters of the independent television channel ONTV, Reem Maged and Yosri Fouda, have become celebrities since hosting an explosive debate in March which resulted in the resignation of Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq. He stepped down next day after a series of angry outbursts on the show provoked a strong public backlash.

Maged said: "This episode will remain forever in the Egyptian media CV, the pilot of a kind of debate which has to take place in the future. A prime minister on air debating -- not fighting hopefully -- with extreme opposition."

Fouda added: "The mood of the whole country has changed. People for the first time have really broken the fear barrier and I think this is the main thing, not only when it comes to media but indeed when it comes to every thing else.

"I'm really heartened by the fact that teenagers now look for political programs to follow."

ONTV competes for viewers in an independent market with newcomers such as Tahrir TV, formed by a group of journalists protesting in Tahrir Square.

New radio stations have sprung up on the internet to make use of greater freedom in recent months. The small team behind Radio Ta7rir recruits volunteers and begs and borrows studio time to record its mix of revolutionary music and political satire.
 

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Nearly 100 days after the revolution, Egypt is very different from the country I experienced when millions were on the streets calling for the fall of Hosni Mubarak’s regime. Despite a myriad of problems, now there is a new energy, or, as the Egyptians say hawa gadid – a new air. The big question is how to channel this energy to forge a new Egypt that is democratic and sustainable, both politically and economically.

The key to moving forward is building confidence among the people with an immediate high-profile project that captures their imagination and symbolizes what the future can bring. Just as the Aswan Dam did that for an earlier generation, the new “City for Science and Technology” now underway can do that for today’s hopeful youth.

In the 1960s, I personally lived the resounding impact of President Nasser’s vision of constructing the Aswan High Dam as a "national project" for controlling the Nile irrigation and the production of electricity. As the young journalist Emad Ahmed wrote in a recent essay on "Egypt's Bridges" to the future, the post-revolution national project for Egypt comparable to the Aswan Dam must be education.

Every family in Egypt understands this. They have personally experienced the deteriorating education system over the past 30 years of Mr. Mubarak’s reign.

Especially for the “Youth of Facebook” who ignited the revolution, the focus on a breakthrough in education that can bring Egypt back to world-class status is in accord with the principles and spirit of their movement – which they fear could be overtaken by “politics as usual” rooted in the past.

Vision of a new generation

As Mr. Ahmed has written, two dominant visions have shaped the Egyptian political imagination over the past 60 years. The first has been the socialist party or al-Hisb al-Ishtraki, which came with Nasser's 1952 "revolution." To today’s youth, that vision represents the past.

At the moment, the most organized force is the Muslim Brotherhood, or Akhwan al-Muslimin. For Ahmed, they represent the transitional present. From a historical perspective, the Akhwan also are part of the past, as they were founded in 1928, even before Nasser's time. Their appeal comes mainly as a result of their effective religious message and organized charity work, and because they resisted the regime for so long.

The youth movement is aware that old visions can not take Egypt into the future. So in the months since Mubarak was overthrown with the Army's admirable support, the youth, along with a broad spectrum of ordinary Egyptians, have kept that spirit alive by continuing to go to Tahrir Square on Fridays in what is called millioniah, or gathering of a million people. They coined a name for each gathering – a Friday of change (takhier), of anger (khadab), of correction (tas'hih). Their demand is that the road to democracy be paved through the establishment of proper constitutions, elimination of old-regime influence, and achievement of justice and equality. Their expectation is a quick remedy to a better economic status.

After so many years of inertia and dictatorship, however, the reality is that these changes will take years. In the meantime, the people need a compass of hope that unites the country and instills confidence and pride.

A project to unify and instill pride

On June 3, a totally different Friday dawned on the country. It was a “Friday of hope” for Egyptians. The day before, a national campaign was launched to build the new City of Science and Technology, following the unanimously-approved legislation by the Cabinet of Ministers and a decree of support from the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.

This “city of the future,” as it already being called and which is being built on 300 acres on the outskirts of Cairo, has a transparent governance structure and is completely independent from government regulation. The board of trustees that has already been formed includes six Nobel laureates, the current president of Caltech and former president of MIT, and a number of influential Egyptians such as Mohamed El-Erian, CEO of PIMCO, who has already made a large personal donation to the city. Sir Magdi Yacoub, the renowned heart surgeon based at Imperial College in London, is also a member.

It is not surprising that the project has been enthusiastically embraced by public opinion. Ibrahim Issa, a prominent journalist and one of the leaders of the Tahrir protests, has said, “It is the only important thing proclaimed since the revolution.” Ahmed Moslemany, a popular TV commentator, has announced to millions of his viewers, "it is the only way to the modern world".

For 12 years, since I was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, I have been laboring to get this project off the ground, only to be frustrated by bureaucrats lacking vision and Mubarak’s indifference. The “new air” of the revolution has breathed new life into the project.

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Al-Azhar, the Cairo-based religious institution regarded as the highest authority in Sunni Islam, has issued an unprecedented document spelling out a bold vision for the future of Egypt as a “democratic, constitutional and modern state”.

Drafted by Ahmed al Tayeb, the Grand Imam of al-Azhar, along with a group of Egyptian intellectuals who include Christians – also a first – the document says Egypt should hold elections, respect basic rights, adhere to its international covenants and guarantee “full protection and total respect” to places of worship belonging to other religions.

The institution, whose views resonate across the Sunni Islamic world, has thrown its weight and prestige behind a modern vision of the state “ruled by law and law alone”.

Al-Azhar’s intervention comes as Egyptians find themselves mired in an intense debate about the country’s future following the revolution which ousted the regime of Hosni Mubarak, the former president.

“This is the first comprehensive declaration about specific matters that are the subject of dispute,” said Gamal al-Ghitani, a novelist who took part in forging the document. “Al-Azhar is siding with modernity and rejecting the concept of the theocratic state. This is something like a bill of basic rights which speaks to Muslims everywhere.”

To “regain its original intellectual role, and global influence”, al-Azhar also makes a bid for independence from the Egyptian state in the same document. Fettered by government control for more than half a century, the institution is seeking a return to an old system under which the Grand Imam was elected by senior religious scholars, and not appointed by the president.

Significantly the Azhar document does not call for the application of sharia law, but says that laws would be based on “the principles of Islamic law” – widely interpreted as the universal values of freedom, justice and equality.

It also insists that legislation is the job of elected representatives, an apparent response to more extreme voices who claim that democracy is incompatible with Islam, and say that legislating through an elected assembly is sinful because it replaces God’s law with people’s law.

Alongside, the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood – expected to do well in the next election – a vocal Salafi current has emerged in the turmoil of Egypt’s transition. It espouses an ultraconservative interpretation of religion similar to that of Saudi Arabia.

A heated and highly polarised debate has raged in recent weeks raising fears of a deepening fracture in society between those who would like to see the country go in a more Islamist direction, and others who fear a slide towards the imposition of a strict form of Islamic rule.

Mahmoud Azab, the spokesman of al-Azhar, said his institution aimed at reassuring the Egyptian public using language it understood.

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Top senators John McCain and John Kerry will accompany a delegation of US business leaders on Friday to Tunisia and Egypt to discuss economic opportunities in the North African countries, McCain's office said.

McCain, a Republican, and Kerry, a Democrat, will visit the two countries with General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt, along with officials from Boeing, Coca-Cola, Bechtel, ExxonMobil, Marriot and Dow, confirmed McCain's office on Wednesday.

On Friday, the delegation planned to meet with current Tunisian Prime Minister Beji Caid Essebsi, and representatives from the business community.

The visit comes as the two lawmakers join Independent Senator Joe Lieberman in sponsoring a bill to create economic assistance funds for Egypt and Tunisia, both rocked with popular unrest and subsequent regime change in recent months.

The purpose of the funds is to provide capital to local entrepreneurs in the hope of creating "thousands of jobs," which both countries desperately need, said Kerry, who chairs the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

In proposing the bill, the elected officials urged the United States to back the revolutionary movements across the region known as the "Arab Spring."

The money, tens of millions of dollars, would be provided by funds already allocated to the US State Department.

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Egypt appointed a new foreign minister on Sunday to replace Nabil Elaraby, who was picked as the new Arab League chief last month, a cabinet official said.

"We have named our former ambassador in Berlin, Mohammed el-Orabi, as the new foreign minister," the official told Reuters. The government confirmed the appointment in a statement.

El-Orabi was Egypt's deputy foreign minister for economic affairs and previously served in embassies in Kuwait, London and Washington, according to Egypt's state news agency.

Elaraby was made foreign minister in a cabinet reshuffle in early March. He takes over at the Arab League from Amr Moussa, who led the 22-nation Cairo-based body for 10 years.

Since veteran leader Hosni Mubarak was overthrown in February, the army-backed interim government has upheld an alliance with the United States and Israel but sought to calm tensions with regional rival Iran.

The improvement in relations with Tehran has alarmed Gulf Arab states which relied on Mubarak's support in their disputes with Iran.

Read the full article here.

CAIRO--It’s 9:30 on a Tuesday night, and democracy is playing to a standing-room-only crowd at the Egyptian Bar Association.

On stage—actually a half-finished podium with cables hanging down like jungle vines and illuminated by a single fluorescent bulb—are three coordinates on Egypt’s political spectrum: leaders of the country’s liberal, leftist, and Islamist “streams,” as proto-political parties here are often called. Over the course of a two-hour discussion, each will market his particular brand of governance as the best match for a country still reeling from the peaceful revolt that in February ousted President Hosni Mubarak after 30 years of dictatorial rule.

As the proceedings begin, some 200 people have settled into their seats and more chairs are summoned to accommodate late arrivals. It is a diverse audience, with both sexes and age groups represented in roughly equal measure. Each panelist is given 15 minutes to make his pitch, beginning with the liberal.

A well-known television personality, he wears a blue blazer and a white shirt opened at the collar. In deliberate fashion and without notes, he rails against the evils of monopoly and privatization. Public utilities should be controlled by the state, he says. Capital markets are founts of corruption, and as such, must be subject to strict regulation.

Next comes the Islamist, a functionary of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s most prominent fundamentalist group. Having once built vast empires on foundations of lightly regulated commerce—the World Bank, after all, once celebrated the 14th-century Muslim scholar Ibn Khaldun as an apostle of privatization—Islamists are generally free-market minded.

This particular specimen, however, is not above trimming his message to suit a crowd where covered women and bearded men are a minority. After treating the audience to three Koranic injunctions—proof, he says, of the reconcilability of Islam and democratic values—he embraces a rigorous regulatory role for the state as the guarantor of social justice. In particular, he prescribes a minimum wage, antitrust legislation, revised subsidies for the poor, and a restoration of the wakf, or charitable trust, to rebuild Egypt’s dilapidated education system.

For the leftist, this is thin gruel indeed. Citing a recent survey by International Republican Institute, a think tank supported by the U.S. Republican Party, he notes that two thirds of the citizens who participated in the revolt against Mubarak did so in opposition to economic injustice in a country where 45 percent of the population lives below the poverty line and 20 percent of the population accounts for 60 percent of national income. (In America, by way of comparison, the top 20 percent of workers accounts for half the country’s wages.)

The Egyptian media, he says, is idolatrous of the market-led reforms imposed by the old regime even as income disparity widened, living standards eroded, and the “digital divide” between the Web-empowered and the computer illiterate deepened. To level such iniquity, he says, the new government must redistribute wealth, establish progressive taxation, fortify worker rights, and kill energy subsidies for large corporations. (One wonders what the grand old IRI would have to say about that.)

Read the full article here.

Egyptian women who fought alongside men for the resignation of former president Muhammad Hosni Mubarak are now fighting for equality.

During the 18-day Egyptian uprising, help from women protesters was welcomed by men, despite women's traditional roles being limited to the private sphere of the home.

But now that the revolution is over, men are forcing women out of the public sphere and telling them to stay home, a panel of specialists and activists said Wednesday.

'It's a work-in-progress,' Manar Hassan, 20, a human rights activist and student journalist, said. 'There is a difference between overthrowing a leader and having a social revolution.'

The activists participated in the panel from Cairo via Skype, which linked them with journalists and others gathered at the Washington-based think tank Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

The panelists said that Mubarak's resignation in February brought up the call for democracy. But men 'didn't view a democracy with women in it,' Dalia Ziada, blogger and Egypt office director of American Islamic Congress, said.

'Men said 'Your time is not now. We are focusing on democracy first and then we'll get to you,'' Ziada said.

Hassan said women protesters are not calling for women's rights alone. They are also advocating for better health care and education - 'the same things men are fighting for.'

'[Women are] as Egyptian as everyone else,' Hassan said. 'We have the right to be in the public sphere.'

Egyptian women activists are eyeing the parliamentary elections in September as another opportunity to increase their public role.

The avenue to a greater voice for women opened in February 2010, when parliament officially reinstated the women's quota system, which designated 64 of 508 seats for women.

However, the panelists said there's some disagreement among women about quotas.

Some activists argue that removing quotas would allow candidates to be elected based on their qualifications alone, rather than gender, and would not limit how many women can earn a position. Others say that the quota is necessary to getting women's foot in the public door.

Regardless of how women become involved in parliament, there was unity behind their message: 'We don't have to be silent anymore,' Amany El-Tunsey, Egyptian publisher, author and activist, said.

'The revolution broke the barrier field, not just between government and protesters but between government and women who want to voice their opinions,' Hassan said.

Bringing more women into parliament would not only provide the female population with a voice on major decisions, but it would also bring the 'dignity and respect that [women] have been waiting for,' Hassan said.

Read the full article here.

CAIRO — On May 25, 2005, in a nearly empty polling station, Bothaina Kamel cast her vote on the referendum to amend the Egyptian Constitution to allow for the country’s first contested presidential elections. That evening she faced a studio camera, presenting the news on state television, declaring that the referendum witnessed a record turnout.

The vote that day had been marred by violence by security forces against protesters denouncing the facade of greater political participation — something that was not mentioned in the broadcast. The constitutional amendment, detractors said, outlined standards so stringent that the ruling party would choose its opposition in presidential elections.

That got Ms. Kamel to thinking: Is she telling viewers the news or is she conveying government newspeak?

Six years and a revolution later, Ms. Kamel, a television anchor and activist, now has the distinction of being the first woman to run for president in Egypt. Her campaign motto is simply, “My agenda is Egypt.”

Ms. Kamel’s foray into politics is nothing new for her. Just after the referendum vote, in the summer of 2005, she and two other women formed Shayfeen.com — “We Are Watching You” in colloquial Arabic — a group to monitor the parliamentary elections. In 2006, Ms. Kamel chose not to read newscasts on state television she did not believe to be true, opting to take a leave of absence.

“My chosen career has been to listen to people,” she said, a role she believes makes her suited for a life in politics.

For six years, she hosted a popular weekly radio program called “Nighttime Confessions.” Broadcast past midnight, listeners called the program to talk about personal dilemmas and seek advice, bringing up such sensitive topics as sexual abuse, and premarital and extramarital sex. The program was abruptly taken off the airwaves in 1998, accused by a state committee on religion of damaging the reputation of Egypt and its youth.

She later made a move to satellite television and the Saudi-owned Orbit network. There, she was a presenter for a decade, hosting an interview and talk show called “Please Understand Me.” But when she chose to do a program, following the revolution, on Hosni Mubarak’s hidden billions, station executives, expecting Saudi Arabia’s alleged role in transferring the fortune would come up, informed her a half hour before airtime that the show was not going to be broadcast. Her program has been in reruns ever since.

Ms. Kamel has come to be known as “the woman who is like a hundred men.” For years a recognized face at pro-democracy rallies, she often acted as a human shield to prevent the arrest of youth demonstrators. A “girl of the revolution,” as she likes to call herself, she was on the streets from day one of the uprising.

Because of recent sectarian violence, Ms. Kamel, who is Muslim, wears a crescent and cross necklace. A silver pin on her dress is inscribed with the words “I am Egyptian” in Arabic calligraphy. A button declares, “Against Corruption.” Among an assortment of beads and bracelets on her wrist is a band emblazoned with the legend, “Make poverty history.” Her campaign for the presidency focuses on fighting the dual evils of poverty and corruption.

“There is no democracy with poverty,” the self-described social democrat said.

A supporter of youth, Ms. Kamel advocates reducing the minimum age for holding elected office in the country’s legislature from 30 to 22. It was mainly the youth who made the ultimate sacrifices during the revolution, she said: “We did not say no, stay on the side because you are less that 30.”

Ms. Kamel first announced her intention to run for the presidency in April on Twitter, using social media as her main publicity and advocacy tool. She expressed reservations on whether presidential elections would take place by the end of the year, as promised by the ruling military council.

On May 8, Ms. Kamel stood in front of the Church of the Virgin Mary, set ablaze a day earlier, in the impoverished working-class district of Imbaba as young and old chanted, “Down With Mubarak!” But it was not behind-the-scenes machinations of former regime elements that were the only source of rage over sectarian violence that has engulfed this community.

The day before witnessed violent confrontations in Imbaba, where it was rumored that a Coptic woman was being held in a church because she wed a Muslim man and converted to his faith. The clashes left a dozen people dead and two churches up in flames.

Amid the tensions, Ms. Kamel talked with residents, both Christians and Muslims, listening to their accounts and testimonials.

Explanations abound on the reasons for the surge in the violence: sectarian conflicts are being engineered by counterrevolutionary forces to halt the gains of the revolution in their tracks; the military rulers are slow to react because they want to remain in charge of the country; the wider margin for expression has laid bare animosities cultivated by extremists, who thrive on the hopelessness and anger that poverty breeds.

Ms. Kamel walked away from the encounter faulting the military rulers who are managing Egypt’s transition government. “I entered Imbaba saying the police and the army were slow to react,” she said. “I left Imbaba saying the police and army were complicit.”

Those were strong words for a military establishment known for being intolerant of criticism.

“I accuse the Supreme Council of dereliction and with helping to aggravate sectarian violence, of failing our revolution,” she added. “I am saying you should return to your barracks. You have failed miserably in protecting Egypt. Your place is not security, it is war. We want a civilian presidential council.”

She has a sense that her outspokenness may put her in danger but is not fearful: “If I get killed, hundreds will come after me. I am not afraid.”

Read the full article here.
 

CAIRO — Egyptian political activists announced Tuesday the formation of three new parties, the first groups with no religious affiliation to emerge from the popular uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak.

The new parties, two of them liberal and the other social democratic, have attracted a following among Egypt’s protesters, who were seeking to find a counterbalance to the country’s largest Islamic group, the Muslim Brotherhood in advance of elections, set for September.

Many fear the Brotherhood, outlawed under Mubarak, will sweep the elections and set an Islamic tone for the country’s new constitution, to be written by the new parliament.

The Brotherhood, founded 83 years ago, is Egypt’s largest and most organized bloc, setting up a huge network of social services and outreach programs over the decades.

Resurgent political activity is sweeping the country with the fall of the Mubarak regime, which severely limited formation of parties. The Brotherhood was outlawed for half a century, and Mubarak’s own dominant party effectively had a veto over creation of other political parties. The ones that survived in his parliament got the reputation of being close to the regime, as opposed to a viable opposition to his rule.

Under the new rules, which require parties not to ban segments of society and then simply to register, the new groups are optimistic.

“We got 50,000 members in the last 50 days. That is a great achievement. It is also when the work begins,” said Rawi Camel-Toueg, deputy director general of the Free Egyptians Party. It is a liberal secular party backed by Coptic Christian businessman Naguib Sawiris. He said his party is open to all Egyptians.

Bassem Kamel, a founding member of The Egyptian Social Democratic Party, said the grouping has so far nearly 40,000 registered members, three months after its launching.

“This is the first civil party after the Islamic parties registered,” he said. “We are now celebrating.”

The Brotherhood, for its part, began seeking an alliance Tuesday with about a dozen parties, including the country’s oldest party and several liberal factions, ahead of the elections.

The Brotherhood has come under criticism for what many perceive as attempts to control the political transformation of Egypt, while ignoring the more secular character of the protesters who led to the downfall of the Mubarak regime.

Essam el-Erian, a leading member of the newly launched Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, said the aim of its wider alliance would be to begin consultations ahead of the elections and ensure a representative parliament.

“This is a message to the people — that the political parties can find a minimum to agree upon and try to coordinate ahead of the elections,” he said. “If we succeed in this, it would be great.”

The Brotherhood earlier announced it was forming a coalition with the Wafd Party, the country’s oldest liberal group, aimed at coordinating their candidates ahead of the elections.

Umbrella groups and wide alliances were common in Mubarak’s era in attempts to mount a united challenge to his iron grip on power, but they often failed to achieve internal accord. Smaller political parties often also sought help from larger ones to secure representation in parliament.

Read the full article here.
 

Since taking control of Egypt from President Hosni Mubarak on Feb. 11 , the Supreme Military Council has offered only fleeting glimpses of its thinking — through posts on its official Facebook page. But in a rare interview, two of the 36 members on the council and a third senior general spoke to Washington Post Senior Associate Editor Lally Weymouth about the revolution that ended Mubarak’s 30-year reign and offered their take on the path ahead for Egypt. The generals spoke only on the condition that their names not be published. Here are excerpts from the interview:

Q. Were the Egyptian armed forces aware that the country was moving in a certain direction before the events [of January] took place?

A. The last 10 years gave indications that something was going to happen. In 2011, we thought we would witness change.

Q. It was known that there was a lot of unemployment, food prices were high, and then there was Facebook. What are the things we missed as observers from the outside?

A. It was about the succession of power, Gamal Mubarak, and a lack of social equity — the erosion of a major part of the middle class. The people who were aware of what was happening were the high-level commanders, not necessarily the middle or the junior.

The demonstrations started on Jan. 25. We went as armed forces to the streets on Jan. 28. We stayed calm and observing until Feb. 11, when former president Mubarak stepped down. The important consideration we bore in mind is that when the legitimacy of the regime is lost, you have to take sides with the Egyptian people.

Q. The armed forces could have taken the side of the president. There must have been a point when you had to decide which way to go.

A. As long as the regime and the people are one unity, the military’s role is to support. [This changes] once we feel there is a crack between these two forces.

Q. Were the upper and lower ranks united in what they wanted to do?

A. Absolutely.

Q. There were no old generals whose loyalty to Mubarak remained strong?

A. At the beginning, we gave the presidential institution the full opportunity to manage events. If it were able to succeed, nothing would have happened. We would have pulled our people back to the barracks. But they were incapable of responding to the events. . . . On Feb. 10, there were demonstrations that amounted to millions of people all over the country.

The police and security forces collapsed completely on Jan. 28. [For] 10 days, the country was boiling. [It] made us worry that the country was going into utter chaos. With President Mubarak stepping down from the presidency, the Egyptian armed forces were assigned to run the country. . . . The most sacred mission for the Supreme Council is to turn over the country to a civilian authority that is democratically and fairly elected.

Q. Why did you decide to have parliamentary elections so quickly instead of giving some of the newer parties time to form?

A. We wanted to give assurances to the Egyptians that the military is not aspiring for power.

Q. People say that by holding parliamentary elections in September, you are giving the Muslim Brotherhood an advantage because they are so well organized.

A. The Muslim Brotherhood may get a majority in the election. If they come to power, they will not be reelected. [In the past], people only voted for the Muslim Brotherhood to oppose the regime. . . . We are doing our best to start a democratic process, but for years afterwards we will have to make it more mature and stronger.

Q. Can I conclude that the army will be playing an important role behind the scenes?

A. When most revolutions start, the people who start them have both the capability and the vision. But in our case, the military has the capability, but the vision and the ideas are derived from the people.

Q. That could be a plus or a minus, right?

A. One dilemma we are facing now is that it is not left to us completely to run the country. We have to respond and to satisfy the aspirations and hopes of the people. The second dilemma is that we cannot find real leadership from the people here who can sit down at the negotiating table and propose their ideas and discuss them and come to compromises.

Q. Nobody?

A. What we are dealing with now is leading ideas, not leading persons. The ideas are proposed on the Internet and Facebook. . . . If they are accepted by a large number of people, the next day they are on the streets . . . and ask [us] to respond to it as a demand.

Q. How do you cope with something like that?

A. It is a problem. The ceiling of the demands is endless. We may also say that these ideas are . . . not deep enough because the young people generating these ideas don’t have enough political experience. I’ll give you an example. We talk about the Rafah border crossing [between Egypt and the Gaza Strip] from the political and security point of view and the international commitments we have. We look for Rafah to be open [only] under certain conditions and controls.

The Palestinians say on the Net that Gaza is completely blocked and the Egyptians have to open the crossing. The next day, it is a public demand from the Egyptians. . . . This is pressure on us. And, of course, we have to respond.

Q. Your foreign minister told me Egypt is opening up to Gaza and sending in whatever they need. . . . Is it the army that makes the decision?

A. The power is in the hands of the Supreme Council of the Egyptian Armed Forces.

The council is responsible for running the whole country in this transition period. . . . There was a demand that all people detained for political or other reasons, except criminal reasons, be released.

Q. Detained during the protests or before them?

A. Over years before the revolution — [jailed] for political or religious reasons — anything other than criminal reasons.

Q. What did you do about that?

A. They were released. And now they constitute part of the problem on the street.

Q. What is the Supreme Council’s attitude toward private business?

A. We have honorable businessmen, honest people who are really trying to do some real development in the country — they will receive our full respect.

Q. After all, businessmen are in business to make money. Either that is okay or not.

A. We are welcoming them very much. There is a false impression because of the pursuing of some of the dishonest businessmen that the atmosphere is not friendly or has changed. In reality, it has not changed.

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The recent wave of sectarian violence Saturday night which claimed a dozen lives and left hundred wounded made my heart ache in a country where Christians and Muslims have lived together in peace for centuries. It is vital for the peace of the region and wider world that the place of all religious communities and their full participation in society should continue to be fully protected and assured. We therefore welcome the firm resolve and assurances of all those in authority to make sure such crimes will not continue to happen.

All Egyptians stand united against such behavior. Sectarian conflict is foreign to Egypt, and those who seek to use this as a pretext to stoke sectarian tensions need to be opposed in everyway possible. At such a sensitive moment, we Egyptians must not participate in the spreading of rumors of such tensions. Rather, we must remain united to ensure that they do not become a self-fulfilling prophecy, and continue to treat each other with the goodness and respect that has long characterized Egyptian society. This is in the best tradition of both Christianity and Islam which call upon us to observe without compromise the two great commandments to love God, and to love our neighbor.

I join many others in Egypt and around the world in expressing my deep condolences to both the Christian and Muslim families of the victims and speed recovery for the wounded. It is my solemn hope and prayer that this new era brings solace to their hearts, continuing calm to our nation, and a resolve from all Egyptians to work towards a peaceful future.

In the series of momentous events that our nation has been going through, we must move forward to implement the reform programs we all so ardently desire. Integral to this is to continue to stay tuned to the true spirit of the revolution and not to allow divisions to compromise the unity that has been so evidently on display among the great Egyptian people .

Many more steps must follow if our country is to fulfill its aspirations for a full transition. In order to achieve our goals, the country must not allow itself to be sidetracked by minor issues and trivialities, sectarian division, or political infighting. Instead, we must maintain our focus on the important challenges and issues affecting the future of our nation at this critical juncture.

One of the questions that has been raised in debates recently is about the role of religion and Muslim activists and groupings in the creation of a new Egypt. Egyptians are a deeply spiritual people, marked by a profound sense of religiosity. The Egyptian experience with Islam has been one of great tolerance and inclusion. Infused with a deep spiritual sense, Egyptian vision of Islam has always been one of flexibility and understanding. Islam, on this understanding, is not a static, authoritarian system unable to adapt to a changing world. Rather, it is a worldview which demands constant engagement and interaction with the world. This is as true of the Islamic legal tradition as it is of any other part of the religion.

This spirit of moderation, tolerance and flexibility is well reflected in the paradigm of al-Azhar which has long served the Egyptian people, by not only producing first-rate scholars, thinkers and intellectuals, but also by providing educational opportunities for men and women, instilling in them an ethic of integrity, leadership and service and devoting itself to spreading a balanced vision of Islam based on recognized and orthodox ideals infused with spiritual depth. We are confident in this great institution’s ability to restore its status as a historical giant, and exert its influence on the articulation of Islam in Egypt and throughout the Muslim world. Now is the time to support institutions that seek to articulate Islamic discourse suitable to the world we live in with impeccable scholarly credentials, and the worldwide prestige necessary to succeed in creating a better world.

As the Grand Mufti of Egypt, I announced that I will invite the various Islamic groupings and factions in the country to engage in dialogue and discussion regarding the state of the nation in the wake of recent political changes, and to study the various issues that now confront us. This proposal to hold a set of meetings is part of a far-reaching effort to set aside intra-religious differences and divisions among the various Islamic trends in Egypt, and instead strive for unity towards “a common word,” as the Koran advises us. The aim is to arrive at an agreement which can then be presented to the citizenry at large as a clear and focused program of unity and understanding. The only precondition for these meetings are those without which dialogue is impossible: a commitment to avoid from the outset the raising of irrelevant points of disagreement and meaningless accusations; as well as a desire to understand the matters before us carefully and thoroughly before undertaking or advising any action to address them.

Read the full article here.

Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas signed an agreement this past week in Cairo that was seen as a first step toward unifying rival governments in Gaza and the West Bank. U.S. and Israeli officials are wary that the reconciliation, brokered by Egypt, could undermine any peace efforts, since both countries consider Hamas a terrorist organization. Prior to the ceremony, Washington Post senior associate editor Lally Weymouth interviewed Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Elaraby on the accord and other changes since the fall of President Hosni Mubarak. Excerpts follow.

You upgraded Egypt’s relationship with Hamas. [Former chief of intelligence] Omar Suleiman tried for years to negotiate a unity government between Fatah and Hamas, and you did it in months.

It all started with the new government that came after the revolution. The government — which is now two months old — made it very clear from the first day that we want to open a new page with all the countries in the world. As such, we contacted Hamas. We pressed that we would like to get unity between the Palestinian factions so that they would be ready to enter into negotiations with Israel. When Secretary [Hillary] Clinton was here, I told her we would like to see the resumption of — not the peace process, I don’t accept the word “peace process” — it is process and not peace. What we need is to obtain peace. . . . We want unity in the Palestinian house. It is in the interest of both groups, it is in the interest of Israel.

Don’t you think this deal makes any agreement with Israel impossible?

No. Who is going to negotiate with Israel? It is the PLO [Palestine Liberation Organization], not Hamas. They have accepted many things — that they will be a government of technocrats. Salam Fayyad might be the prime minister, there will be elections. Maybe the elections Hamas will lose, who knows. I don’t know why the U.S. government was lukewarm at first and then became hostile.

Hamas is on the U.S. terrorist list.

You want my answer? So was George Washington for the British. So was Nelson Mandela in South Africa. So were Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir. Begin was one of the biggest terrorists and was responsible for the bombing of the King David Hotel. Shamir was responsible for the assassination of Count Bernadotte. And they worked for peace after that. Allow someone who is fighting for a cause to see the light of day at the end of the tunnel and to enter into peace. That is the history of the world.

What will Egypt’s position be in September regarding the recognition of a Palestinian state at the United Nations? I interviewed Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad recently, and he spoke of his desire to see a Palestinian state recognized this fall.

We support it [statehood] very much. We are pressing all our friends. We are pressing the Europeans. We hope they will all recognize Palestine.

The problem with Hamas is that they don’t accept Israel.

Let’s say you have a government — take any government, take Israel — there are leftists, rightists, Marxists, whatever they are. The main thing is that they [Hamas] accept there will be negotiations with Israel. We would like to see a recognition of the state of Palestine by the overwhelming majority of member states. We took the cue from what President Obama said last year, that he would like to see a state of Palestine by next September.

What are its borders?

[The ones set in] 1967, with the land swaps which have been agreed on since [Bill] Clinton’s Camp David Accords.

Moving to Iran, you recently said Egypt intends to ready to normalize relations with Iran.

No, never. I said Egypt has turned a page with every country in the world. I never specified Iran. [I was] asked if this included Iran, and I said yes. We don’t want to look backwards, we want to look forward. No decision has been made on Iran. Every country in the world has relations with Iran except three — [the United States], Egypt and Israel.

But the tone of your statement on Iran indicates more than that. No matter what you say, Egypt let Iranian ships go through the Suez Canal.

Are we at war with them? We are opening a new page with every country in the world. We cannot stop a ship from moving through the Suez Canal unless they are at war with us.

Didn’t they have a big Hezbollah cell aimed at Egypt a few years ago?

They are not an enemy. If you want me to say it — Iran is not an enemy. We have no enemies. Anywhere.

Read the full article here.

Photos

Protesters outside the Egyptian Embassy.  Photo by Flickr user Paul Frederiksen.

Protesters outside the Egyptian Embassy.  Photo by Flickr user Messay Shoakena.

Protesters in front of the White House.  Photo by Flickr user Messay Shoakena.

Protesters in front of the White House. Photo by Flickr user Messay Shoakena.

Protesters in front of the White House. Photo by Flickr user Messay Shoakena.

Protesters in front of the White House. Photo by Flickr user Messay Shoakena.

Protesters outside the Egyptian Embassy. Photo by Flickr user Messay Shoakena.

Protesters in front of the White House. Photo by Flickr user Messay Shoakena.

Protesters outside the Egyptian Embassy. Photo by Flickr user Messay Shoakena.

Video

As I was leaving Cairo after Hosni Mubarak stepped down, I asked Esraa, a young woman who was one of the leaders of the revolution: “What was your objective?” She said, “taghier al nezam”, a change of the system. The Egyptians brought down the head of the system, but not the system itself. That is the challenge now.

Egypt’s revolution, like Tunisia’s, represents a model for change in the Middle East. These societies are not fragmented by tribal or sectarian conflicts. Despite differences of faith or even the occasional collisions between them, Egypt is united. In contrast, the second model for revolutions is that of Yemen, Libya and others in the making. In these cases, unfortunately, tribal and sectarian conflicts may lead to chaos and civil war, ultimately dragging the Middle East backward into conflict and fanaticism, not forward.

To avert this, the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia cannot be allowed to fail. Egypt is the key. With 85m people, it is the largest country in the region and the heart of the Arab world. Making sure it succeeds is essential for the spread of democracy and stability of the world’s energy supply as well as for peace in the region. What can be done?

From my experience pushing for reform over two decades and as a negotiator with the youth and government leaders during the revolution, I know what in the long term is needed most – a decent education system. The so-called “children of Facebook” who fomented the revolution know Egypt was once ahead of South Korea in scientific research and development. They know that in the 30 years Mr Mubarak sat in his palace and Egypt deteriorated, China has lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty, sent astronauts into space, built megacities and high-speed trains, and brought its students up to world standards. They ask why Egypt cannot do the same thing.

This will, of course, take time but it is imperative to begin now. Of Egypt’s many problems the three most urgent to address are governance, economy and education. The army’s Supreme Council, now the ruling political entity, has to ensure swift political changes. Egypt badly needs national unity and reconciliation. But to take the critical long-term steps to transform society it needs financial support. While Egyptians themselves must fashion the new nation, they need help in rebuilding sustainable institutions. The place to start is with the pivotal project, “renaissance in education and development”, whose acronym is the first command of the Koran – read.

For years the west supported Mubarak and gave aid for what it hoped was stability – but was actually stagnation – in the Middle East. What Egypt needs now is a global partnership of private and government organisations to establish a fund to finance a revolution in education. This should be directed by a board of trustees from renowned Egyptians and world leaders in co-operation with the Egyptian government.

Such an effort would need an initial $1bn from private and government sources. Further funds then could come from other nations and be deployed by the World Bank, the Arab Bank and the Islamic Development Fund. Repudiation of debt will redirect national resources to this and other vital projects. Egypt does not possess rich natural resources. Its agricultural area is relatively small – less than 10 per cent of the total land. Its growth relies on tourism, Suez Canal tariffs and foreign investment. Yet Egypt is rich with human capital. According to the United Nations, Egypt’s population will grow to 114m before it stabilises in the year 2065.

Read the full article here.

Egyptians living abroad will, for the first time, be able to vote in parliamentary and presidential elections due this year after the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak, the cabinet said on Wednesday.

Millions of Egyptians live outside the country, where they study and work. The country of 80 million people has a high unemployment rate, especially among its youth.

"Both Egyptians living in Egypt and abroad will be allowed to vote with their national identity cards," Justice Minister Mohamed Abdel Aziz el-Guindy told Reuters after a cabinet meeting that discussed the new voting procedures among other issues.

Expatriate Egyptians will be able to vote at their embassies, the prime minister's media adviser Ahmed el-Seman told reporters.

Egyptians will vote for a new parliament in September in the first election after mass protests ended Mubarak's 30-year rule in February.

Egyptians will then vote for a new president later in the year. The military council that has ruled Egypt since Mubarak's ouster must approve the cabinet's decision on voting before drafting it into law.

The council had approved in March a new law that lifted restrictions on the formation of political parties, freeing up a political scene long dominated by Mubarak's National Democratic Party (NDP). The NDP was dissolved last week.

Read the full article here.

The Group of Seven industrialized economies are urging Europe's development bank to lend to Egypt and Tunisia as the two countries build new governments, Egypt's finance minister said in an interview Thursday.

Egypt, two months after the overthrow of former President Hosni Mubarak, also faces a cash crunch amid a weak economy--hit by a loss of tourism revenue--and outflows of capital.

Samir Radwan, who took his post in Egypt's transitional government this year, said leaders of the G-7 nations--U.S., Canada, Germany, France, Italy, the U.K. and Japan--met Thursday and agreed that the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development should make loans to the two countries. The European development bank, established in 1991, was created to invest in former communist countries in central Europe. The organization needs special approval to extend its role to Africa.

The development bank "is now authorized to deal with Egypt and Tunisia," Radwan said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires after G-7 leaders met. "They have given the EBRD permission," Radwan said. "If I want to borrow I can go to them." It is unclear if the G-7 endorsement is enough to get the development bank to make the changes or if there are other procedural hurdles.

During the past three months, Egypt's reserves have tumbled from $43 billion to $32 billion. At least some of those funds are believed to have been used to shore up the Egyptian pound, which has been sliding.

So far, Radwan said, Egypt isn't having problems servicing its debt. There is "no thought of default or anything like that," he said. A big portion of Egypt's debt is domestically held and the overseas debt has relatively long maturity.

Egypt is working with the World Bank, African Development Bank and Arab development institutions on funding packages to support its rebuilding effort. It is also "in conversation" with the International Monetary Fund but is waiting to determine its needs before deciding how to proceed with IMF funding, Radwan said.

"Egypt has been receiving tremendous goodwill from everybody," he said. "We have the best of relations with the IMF. We have not requested; we have not rejected. We are watching the situation day by day."

The nation also could borrow in private markets if necessary, he said. "We will start with a homegrown program and then we see the requirements."

While in Washington, Egyptian policymakers have been meeting with U.S. government representatives searching for debt relief. Egypt owes the U.S. about $3.5 billion plus annual interest payments of about $350 million. One option, he said, is a debt swap that would change part of that debt from U.S. dollars into Egyptian currency on condition that it is used for development projects.

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IT has become fashionable to refer to the 18-day Egyptian uprising as the “Facebook revolution,” much to the dismay of the protesters who riveted the world with their bravery in Cairo’s Tahrir Square. But revolutions do not happen in cyberspace, even if they start there. What happened in Tahrir Square during the revolution and the protests happening there now show that even in the 21st century, public space remains the most important arena for dissent and social change.

Tahrir Square’s rise to prominence is a testament to how place and history can come together unexpectedly. Although its Arabic name means “liberation,” and although it is one of the oldest squares in modern Cairo, Tahrir never carried much meaning for Cairenes until recently.

In fact, the idea of the public square as we know it today did not exist in Egypt or in the cities of the Middle East until colonial times; open spaces were historically situated in front of the main mosque, to accommodate overflow crowds and religious festivals.

The demonstrations that began in Tahrir Square in January with demands for the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak continue today with protests of the Egyptian military’s management of the revolution’s aftermath. Indeed, the interim Egyptian cabinet recently issued a decree criminalizing demonstrations, on the ground that they disrupt the economy, and two protesters in the square were killed last weekend by security forces.

In many ways, it seems an accident of history that Tahrir Square has become a locus of protest and repression. But a closer look reveals that the square’s geography and structures, including the burned buildings and pockmarked pavements now engraved in the minds of people all over the globe, embody the shifting political currents of modern Egypt as it encountered colonialism, modernism, Pan-Arabism, socialism and neoliberalism.

To the south of the square stands the Mugamma, a bulky, Soviet-style structure that has long been a symbol of Egypt’s monumental bureaucracy. (No Egyptian was able to avoid a trip to that building, in which government offices issued everything from birth certificates to passports.) Overlooking Tahrir Square on the west are the headquarters of the Arab League, with its Islamic architectural motifs, and the former Hilton, the city’s first modern hotel (and soon to be a Ritz-Carlton). Just north of the hotel lies the salmon-colored Egyptian Museum and, behind it, the headquarters for Mr. Mubarak’s National Democratic Party, with its monotonous Modernist facade left charred by a fire set during this year’s protests.

The city’s various rulers and regimes, from the pharaohs to Mubarak, have woven themselves in Cairo’s urban fabric. When the Fatimid regime established el-Qahira (Cairo is the Anglicized version of that name) in the 10th century, the Nile ran a different course than it does today. The area that later became Tahrir Square was marshland. By the time Napoleon occupied Cairo at the end of the 18th century, the land had dried up enough to allow the French forces to camp there. But it was not for several decades more, until the time of Muhammad Ali, the founder of modern Egypt, that engineers were able to stabilize the Nile’s banks enough to allow the square to be born as a green field.

The 500-acre open space was home to cultivated fields, gardens and several royal palaces during Khedive Ismail’s reign, from 1863 to 1879. Ismail, the grandson of Muhammad Ali, came to be known as the founder of modern Cairo.

Having lived in Paris as it rebuilt itself into a city of broad boulevards and roundabouts, Ismail embarked on a similar project of modernizing Cairo during the 1860s. Both a district and the square that eventually became Tahrir were initially named Ismailia in his honor.

Ismail’s modernization projects plunged the country into great debt, and he was ousted by foreign forces in 1879. The British occupation of Egypt soon ensued, lasting into the mid-20th century. The British stationed their troops west of the square in Ismailia, in what Egyptians often called the English Barracks.

In the early 20th century, the Ismailia district became downtown Cairo and expanded toward the square, which was redesigned with a roundabout at the southern end to improve the flow of cars. A few decades later, during the reign of King Farouk, the square acquired a large empty pedestal that Cairenes who lived through those years still remember with great nostalgia. Farouk had commissioned a statue of his grandfather, Khedive Ismail, but by the time it arrived years later, reverence for the monarchy had given way to the Egyptian Republic and nascent Pan-Arabism — and the statue never took its place on that pedestal. The Arab League headquarters, a symbol of this new era and ideology, was constructed at the western side of the square and became a monument to the dream of Arab unity.

The square witnessed its first demonstrations on Feb. 11, 1946, when opposition to the British presence in Egypt led to protests and skirmishes with the police, resulting in the death of two dozen Egyptians. Dissatisfaction with King Farouk’s government brought protests that ignited the Great Fire of Cairo on Jan. 25, 1952. A few buildings in the square were casualties of the blaze. (On the same day, 59 years later, Egyptians descended upon Tahrir Square in unprecedented numbers to protest their government.)

The 1952 fire was a precursor to an army coup, led by Gamal Abdel Nasser, which transformed Egypt from a sleepy kingdom into a revolutionary anti-imperialist republic. In the following decade, Nasser’s government issued a decree changing the name of the square from Ismailia to Tahrir to commemorate the departure of the British from Egypt.

In 1959, the Nile Hilton opened on the site of the former English Barracks, inaugurating the era of mass tourism in Egypt. Next to it was a building that became the headquarters of Nasser’s Arab Socialist Union, the party that governed Egypt as a police state for much of his rule. This was the same building that Mr. Mubarak’s National Democratic Party later inherited as its headquarters.

After Nasser’s death in 1970, President Anwar el-Sadat renamed Tahrir for his predecessor and rumor had it that a statue of Nasser would sit atop the pedestal once intended for Khedive Ismail — but the name never stuck and the statue never came.

The unoccupied pedestal remained in the square until the mid-1970s, when construction of a station for the Cairo metro system necessitated its removal. Its pieces now lie forgotten in a storage yard on the outskirts of Cairo.

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Egypt's former president, Hosni Mubarak, was put under detention for 15 days from his hospital bed, pending investigations into corruption charges and acts of violence against the protesters who ousted him in an uprising earlier this year.

The decision by the public prosecutor to remand Mr. Mubarak, 82 years old, and his two sons, Alaa and Gamal, into detention came hours after the former president sought treatment for a heart attack Tuesday evening.

The past day has left Egyptians on tenterhooks, waiting for the next event in the undoing of Mr. Mubarak, who a little more than two months ago was still defiantly clinging to power as protesters demanding his resignation entrenched themselves throughout the country.

Mr. Mubarak left office on Feb. 11 after nearly 30 years as Egypt's president, a period marked by political repression, economic malaise, allegations of corruption and a stubborn reluctance to reform government institutions.

An attorney at the office of Egypt's general prosecutor said Mr. Mubarak was being held in a hospital in the Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh, where he has lived since he abdicated the presidency.

Mr. Mubarak collapsed Tuesday afternoon at his home in the resort city about two hours before prosecuting lawyers arrived to interrogate him. After he was admitted to the hospital, his condition remained stable enough for prosecutors to speak to him for nearly four hours last night, according to the attorney, who asked to remain anonymous because he isn't authorized to speak to the media.

MENA, the official Egyptian state news agency, said Mr. Mubarak had suffered a heart attack.

The general prosecutor's office announced its decision to remand the Mubaraks over its official Facebook page, which has become the preferred method of public relations for the most crucial government bodies in post-revolutionary Egypt.

"The general prosecutor orders the detention of former President Hosni Mubarak and his sons Gamal, 47, and Alaa, 49, for 15 days pending investigation after the prosecutor general presented them with the current state of its ongoing investigations," read the statement.

Mr. Mubarak and his sons join a host of former officials whose past allegiance to Mr. Mubarak has made them the target of a dragnet that has widened dramatically in the past week. Some Egyptians are now joking that Tora Prison, a penitentiary outside Cairo that once housed the country's best-known political prisoners, has come to resemble an annual conference of the country's former ruling National Democratic Party.

Former Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif also was remanded to 15 days in custody on Monday. The same day, Safwat el-Sherif, the former speaker of Egypt's Shura Council, the upper house of parliament, was placed in detention, along with Zakariya Azmi, the former president's chief of staff, who was arrested last Thursday.

The arrests of Mr. Mubarak and his sons, along with other top officials, appeared to come as a response to protesters who have spent the past week forcefully—sometimes violently—demanding the investigation and prosecution of former regime loyalists. Protesters have lingered in Tahrir Square since last Friday, when tens of thousands reconvened in what had been the nerve center of February's anti-Mubarak rallies.

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In early 2005, Cairo-based computer engineer Saad Bahaar was trawling the internet when he came across a trio of Egyptian expatriates who advocated the use of non-violent techniques to overthrow strongman Hosni Mubarak. Bahaar, then 32 and interested in politics and how Egypt might change, was intrigued by the idea. He contacted the group, lighting one of the fuses that would end in freedom in Tahrir Square six years later.

The three men he approached -- Hisham Morsy, a physician, Wael Adel, a civil engineer by training, and Adel's cousin Ahmed, a chemist -- had all left Egypt for jobs in London.

Inspired by the way Serbian group Otpor had brought down Slobodan Milosevic through non-violent protests in 2000, the trio studied previous struggles. One of their favorite thinkers was Gene Sharp, a Boston-based academic who was heavily influenced by Mahatma Gandhi. The group had set up a webpage in 2004 to propagate civil disobedience ideas in Arabic.

At first, the three young Egyptians' activities were purely theoretical. But in November 2005, Wael Adel came to Cairo to give a three-day training session on civil disobedience. In the audience were about 30 members of Kefaya, an anti-Mubarak protest group whose name means "enough" in Arabic. Kefaya had gained prominence during the September 2005 presidential elections which Mubarak won by a landslide. During these protests, they had been attacked by thugs and some women members had been stripped naked. Bahaar joined Adel on the course and his career as an underground trainer in non-violent activism was born.

Adel taught activists how to function within a decentralized network. Doing so would make it harder for the security services to snuff them out by arresting leaders. They were also instructed on how to maintain a disciplined non-violent approach in the face of police brutality, and how to win over bystanders.

"The third party, the bystander sitting on the fence, will join when he realizes that security forces' use of violence is unwarranted," Bahaar said in one of a series of interviews with Reuters. "Security will harass you to provoke an angry violent response to justify a repressive crackdown in the name of law and order. But you must avoid this trap."

The process took time. As Wael Adel put it during an interview in a rundown Cairo cafe in March, there was a process of "trial and error" before Egypt's non-violent warriors were strong enough to begin to take on a dictator.

Kefaya, for example, did run some more campaigns - including one for judicial independence in 2006. But it failed to stir mass protests or expand beyond the middle class elite. There was also internal disagreement between its younger activists and older politicians. By 2007, it had lost its momentum and many had quit.

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In January publishers and book sellers from around the world came to Egypt for the annual Cairo book fair.

President Hosni Mubarak was set to cut the ribbon on the 43rd inauguration of oldest and the largest book fair in the Arab world.

But as revolution rocked the country, book-buying was far from the minds of those gathered in the city and the fair was cancelled.

At the beginning of April, booksellers once again descended on Cairo for a substitute fair, organised by the American University of Cairo Press, and held in the now iconic Tahrir square.

With the possible exception of Lebanon, Egypt is the principal centre of publishing for Arabic-speaking countries.

Held in the climate of post-revolutionary Egypt, the fair will have major impact on new literature across the Middle East.

Yasmine el Dorghamy is an Egyptian publisher and founder of the Egypt Heritage Review Magazine.

"Writers and poets have been inspired" she says. She believes that literature had a huge part to play in the revolutions in Egypt and beyond.

"Indeed these events don't just happen suddenly. It is like an engine that needs to be warmed up. It's writing that pushed the people out [on to the streets] and vice versa."

Political change could herald a very exciting period for publishing in the country.

"Now we can say whatever we want, we can publish whatever we want."

She predicts a huge upsurge in new magazines and newspapers now that the "chains" of Mubarak's regime are gone.

Many of the visitors at Tahrir square share in this enthusiasm and hope for the future including one young woman who perused the book stalls excitedly.

"A few years ago many Egyptians didn't read," she said, "but recently they started reading. Me and my friends read a lot of opposition newspapers and that brought attention to corruption that was happening."

In previous years the fair came under criticism from some quarters who claimed it was complicit in censorship, banning certain books that were critical of the government and those with more sexually explicit themes.

Last year, security forces raided the fair and physically removed all copies of a book that criticised Libyan leader Muammar Gadaffi, an official friend of the regime. The book's publisher was arrested and detained.

But the climate this year is very different.

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LAST month, Egyptians approved a referendum on constitutional amendments that will pave the way for free elections. The vote was a milestone in Egypt’s emerging democracy after a revolution that swept away decades of authoritarian rule. But it also highlighted an issue that Egyptians will grapple with as they consolidate their democracy: the role of religion in political life.

The vote was preceded by the widespread use of religious slogans by supporters and opponents of the amendments, a debate over the place of religion in Egypt’s future Constitution and a resurgence in political activity by Islamist groups. Egypt is a deeply religious society, and it is inevitable that Islam will have a place in our democratic political order. This, however, should not be a cause for alarm for Egyptians, or for the West.

Egypt’s religious tradition is anchored in a moderate, tolerant view of Islam. We believe that Islamic law guarantees freedom of conscience and expression (within the bounds of common decency) and equal rights for women. And as head of Egypt’s agency of Islamic jurisprudence, I can assure you that the religious establishment is committed to the belief that government must be based on popular sovereignty.

While religion cannot be completely separated from politics, we can ensure that it is not abused for political gain.

Much of the debate around the referendum focused on Article 2 of the Constitution — which, in 1971, established Islam as the religion of the state and, a few years later, the principles of Islamic law as the basis of legislation — even though the article was not up for a vote. But many religious groups feared that if the referendum failed, Egypt would eventually end up with an entirely new Constitution with no such article.

On the other side, secularists feared that Article 2, if left unchanged, could become the foundation for an Islamist state that discriminates against Coptic Christians and other religious minorities.

But acknowledgment of a nation’s religious heritage is an issue of national identity, and need not interfere with the civil nature of its political processes. There is no contradiction between Article 2 and Article 7 of Egypt’s interim Constitution, which guarantees equal citizenship before the law regardless of religion, race or creed. After all, Denmark, England and Norway have state churches, and Islam is the national religion of politically secular countries like Tunisia and Jordan. The rights of Egypt’s Christians to absolute equality, including their right to seek election to the presidency, is sacrosanct.

Similarly, long-suppressed Islamist groups can no longer be excluded from political life. All Egyptians have the right to participate in the creation of a new Egypt, provided that they respect the basic tenets of religious freedom and the equality of all citizens. To protect our democracy, we must be vigilant against any party whose platform or political rhetoric threatens to incite sectarianism, a prohibition that is enshrined in law and in the Constitution.

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Egypt’s military rulers said on Wednesday that the country’s first presidential elections since the ouster of longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak will be held by November, giving the country’s emerging political groups up to eight months to organize.

The announcement comes 10 days after Egyptian voters overwhelmingly approved a reform package of constitutional amendments, but many critics fear the rapid timetable for elections would give a significant advantage to the most organized political forces in the country, namely the Muslim Brotherhood and members of the former ruling party — rather then the newly emerging forces, especially among the youth, involved in the uprising.

The news came as the military’s announced a new 62-article interim constitution to replace the one suspended after the fall of Mubarak’s regime on Feb. 11 in a popular uprising that rocked the region. By giving a timetable for parliament and presidential elections, the army backed up its earlier commitment to swiftly transfer power to a civilian democratic authority.

The presidential elections will be a held a month or two after September’s parliamentary contests, the military said.

Many presidential hopefuls have already announced their plans to contest elections, including Nobel Prize laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, Arab League chief Amr Moussa, and longtime left-wing opposition politician Hamdeen Sabahi. Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, the country’s most organized group, said it will not nominate a candidate in the presidential elections.

The interim constitution stipulates the creation of a committee of 100 legal experts, academics, politicians and professionals to be selected by the newly elected parliament to draft a new constitution, which would then be approved by a referendum.

Despite demands by many of the youth groups behind the 18-day uprising, the new parliament will keep a 50 percent quota of seats allocated to “farmers and workers,” a holdover from the country’s socialist past.

Amid intense debate about the identity of new Egypt, the new document emphasized the country’s Islamic identity by stating in Article 2 that the state religion is Islam and the principle of the Islamic Sharia law is the main source of legislation. Article 4, however, bans political parties based on religious grounds.

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Egypt's military rulers announced Monday that the country's hated emergency laws will be lifted before parliament elections set for September, the latest move to ease harsh restrictions under the ousted regime of President Hosni Mubarak.

The laws have been in place since 1981, when Mubarak took power. They give police near-unlimited powers of arrest and allowed indefinite detentions without charges. The old regulations also sharply curtailed rights to demonstrate and organize politically.

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which is ruling the country now, also said Mubarak and his family are under house arrest. The statement apparently aimed to defuse rumors that Mubarak had left for Saudi Arabia for medical treatment.

In another move to lighten restrictions, the council reduced the nightly curfew to three hours, from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m.

This reflects improvement in the security situation after a wave of acts of thuggery, armed theft and chaos after police were pulled off the streets on Jan. 28. Up to now the curfew has been in effect from midnight to 6 a.m.

In another landmark move, the council issued a decree easing conditions for forming new political parties.

This overturns Mubarak's system giving his party a virtual veto over creation of new parties, effectively stifling new groupings.

Under the new decree, new parties must have 5,000 members in 10 provinces with 300 members in each of them in order to gain recognition. Egypt has 29 provinces.

The new order gives citizens the right to establish parties by notifying a newly established judicial committee. The party would be recognized 30 days after sending the notification, if the committee has not issued objections.

There are limitations. The council banned the formation of political parties on religious grounds and those discriminating against citizens based on their race or faith.

The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest opposition movement, outlawed for half a century, said it is planning to establish a party.

Hossam Tamam, a researcher in Islamic movements, said that the Muslim Brotherhood can easily get around the restriction by eliminating articles in its political agenda which ban women and Copts from running.

Tamam said that the restriction appears to be aimed at fundamentalist Islamic groups like the Salafi movement from running. "I think the challenge here is to ban the Salafi movement and its sisters, whose agenda contradicts with basic rights of citizenship," he said.

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Egypt's military leadership will hold parliamentary elections in September, in an apparent nod to emerging political forces that had asked for more time to organize new political parties.

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which assumed power after former President Hosni Mubarak stepped down last month, announced the change at a news conference on Monday, along with a new law that will greatly reduce barriers that had allowed Egypt's former ruling regime to prevent new parties from forming.

The decisions come more than a week after Egyptians voted in overwhelming numbers to accept amendments ensuring judicial supervision of elections and setting term limits for president, among other changes.

Egyptians supported the amendments despite calls by protest leaders and prominent presidential candidates Amr Moussa and Mohammed ElBaradei for an entirely new constitution.

Many leaders of the youth movement that ousted Mr. Mubarak said they saw the referendum as a blatant display of Islamist political muscle. Islamist politicians, including the powerful Muslim Brotherhood and the hard-line Salafi movement, had encouraged Egyptians to vote in favor of the amendments.

Secular reformers said the Islamists' campaign amounted to a cynical power grab: The referendum was seen as fast-tracking parliamentary elections in which only well-established religious leaders were prepared to compete.

But despite their commanding political performance ahead of the referendum, the dominant religious voices that lead Egypt's Islamist movement began to show clear signs of ideological fracture this week.

While the Muslim Brotherhood had once stood at the vanguard of both the Islamist and antiregime political movements, conservative voters will now be able to choose from a broader menu of Islamist political options representing a wider array of ideologies.

This franchising of political Islam will ultimately weaken the movement, said Emad Gad, a political analyst for the government-funded Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies.

"In the next parliamentary elections, they cannot reach the same coalition because there will be competition between these movements [for] getting seats in the parliament," said Mr. Gad, who added that he expects as many as four political parties to come from the Brotherhood's support base. "At the end of the day, they can reach an agreement under the flag of Islam but when they discuss what kind of Islam, they can be many, many factions."

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My first experience with revolution was listening to grownups whispering about the 1952 Revolution. Although my childhood understanding of that great event was limited, I had already become an avid supporter, even as many people around me continued to speak with admiration about Saad Zaghloul and Mustafa El-Nahhas. The Suez War of 1956 fired my enthusiasm for the immortal leader Gamal Abdel-Nasser and his disciples in the Free Officers movement. Although there were some who questioned a victory that led to an occupation and the opening of the Straits of Tiran to Israeli ships, the words of Mohamed Hassanein Heikal on the nationalisation of the canal and victory, be it political or military, were sufficient to keep my ardour alive.

The turning point came during my first years of secondary school when my history professor gave us the assignment of writing a short research paper on a major historical event. Mine was the French Revolution. After ploughing through several books on the subject, what struck me most was the difference between the romantic beginnings of the revolution and subsequent realities. There it opened with the exciting fall of a corrupt king, a foolish queen and a wealthy ruling elite against the backdrop of the storming of the Bastille, the symbol of oppression and tyranny. However, the rosiness faded as guillotines severed the heads of the supporters of the ancien régime and then turned their blades on the heads of the leaders of the new order who had transformed a budding democracy into the Bonapartist state whose defeat worked to restore the corrupt monarchy to the throne. What happened in France afterward is not the issue here. The point is that the revolution that had succeeded in uprooting tyranny somehow lost its enthralling glimmer.

In the wake of the 1967 defeat, it was clear that the whole Egyptian revolution needed to be subjected to a process of revision. A host of the revolution's writers had lost their magic touch when faced with the question as to how such a great revolution could have lost land to the enemy twice in the space of half a generation. For the youth of the July 1952 Revolution it became a duty to demonstrate. They took to the streets in February 1968 to demand an accounting for the defeat and to call for changes that would need to be made to make victory possible. It was the first revolution in that revolutionary Nasserist era. It came at a time when realities were striking home and Abdel-Nasser had become an Egyptian-style Bonaparte. While the 1968 demonstrations were a first attempt, the 1972 demonstrations were deeper and more focussed on the call for democracy and the fight against corruption. Nevertheless, in those days the revolution had little choice but to concentrate on the foremost priority, which was to end the Sinai occupation.

By pure coincidence I was studying Marxist thought and the Bolshevik Revolution at the time and I came across John Reed's Ten Days that Shook the World. This early classic about the October Revolution painted a very romantic picture about a revolution that would soon fall out with itself. When Stalin took power, the revolution turned into rivers of blood. Seventy years later under Gorbachev it met its reverberating collapse. When Yeltsin took over, any residual romanticism quickly faded before the rise of a regime of anarchy and organised crime. Eventually the Russians in the general intelligence agency reached a solution: a government ruled by Putin and Medvedev, alternating between them the posts of president and prime minister. With this formula Russia can have a democracy and a strong state at the same time, or so the new regime would have it.

While I was in the US completing my graduate studies I met many revolutionaries from Ukraine to Chile. However, the ones I felt closest to -- and who I found the most interesting -- were from Iran. The reason for this was that in 1977, the realisation of their dreams was right around the corner. Indeed, two years later the Islamists under Khomeini's banner, liberals, Marxists and all other shades of the Iranian opposition had succeeded in toppling a horrifyingly brutal and corrupt regime. It was indeed a thrilling period: massive millions- strong demonstrations, an army that sided with the revolution, the fall of the notorious SAVAK. Even today I can still hear the heated bickering between the Iranian "Jacobins" who were adamant upon the need to dismantle the old order and build anew, and liberals who called for the construction of a democratic order that would steer the country through a historical transformation. The substance of the debate was not new to me (I had read similar ones before), but this time the participants were members of groups that were taking part in a revolution that was currently in progress.

As it transpired, the "Jacobins" ruled the day. The Shah's regime was liquidated, which was great. Then followed the liquidation of the liberals and Marxists, which was not so great. Then came the turn of the moderates, from Ghotbzadeh to Beni Sadr, who had been part of the early revolutionary regime. Bonaparte, in the form of Khomeini, had won again. We find his latest clone in Ahmadinejad who has worked to safeguard a version of the revolution that consists only of supporters of Ahmadinejad.

Of course, there are other revolutions we can talk about. For example, Chairman Mao's "long march" and Red Book were often the romantic symbols of the Chinese revolution. However, it is Egypt's January 27 Revolution that concerns me here. Can its current romanticism and great dreams also turn into a nightmarish reality?

I was struck by an analysis that my friend, Mustafa El-Feki, gave during a meeting with Prime Minister Essam Sharaf. So far, he said, the revolution has passed through several "waves" which I will take the liberty to describe as follows. The first was the youth wave, which set the revolution in motion via the Internet and Facebook. It was characterised by a disciplined romanticism fired by progressivist aspirations and the dream of democracy. They were then joined by the youth of other opposition parties and forces, notably the Muslim Brotherhood. The members of the latter brought their history and ideology -- as well as their complexes -- to the tents in Tahrir Square. The third wave came with the arrival of groups demonstrating for sectoral demands, ranging from wage increases to religious principles, as was the case with certain Sunni groups. In the fourth wave, ex-cons, jailbirds and others with criminal records boarded the train of millions. El-Feki feared the arrival of a fifth wave, which would bring the slums to the ranks of the revolutionaries. The revolution of the starving masses hasn't hit yet, he said.

Regardless of how we might describe its unfolding phases, the revolution -- like all others that have gone before -- has lost the romantic glow that characterised its fine beginnings as special agendas began to mount. At the same time, there was an outbreak of various social ills. These had been there before, but the prevailing spirit of romanticism had led people to believe that they had been purged by the revolutionary fires in our chests, or washed away with the blood of our great martyrs. So it came as a complete surprise to many to see a resurgence of sexual harassment, another surge of sectarian violence, and a fresh spate of sectoral demands out of all proportion to our country's resources and capacities. At one stage, this latter phenomenon reached the tragicomic height of tax officials demanding a five per cent cut of tax revenues. Finance Minister Samir Radwan could not help wondering if that should also apply to the revenues of the Suez Canal, to which I might add the petroleum and mineral wealth sector.

Society has returned to its original state, which is only natural, since the ills that infect it can not be remedied by demonstrations in Tahrir Square, even by conjuring up the bogeyman that goes by the name of "the remnants of the NDP and State Security". It came as no small surprise to hear these words in the first meeting between the new "government of the revolution" and the press, writers and intellectuals, given that 13 members of the new government belong to the democratic reform wing of the NDP and had long striven by various means towards the same aims of the revolution, particularly the democratic and civil rights components. One could not escape the impression that the NDP -- or rather its "remnants" -- were leading the revolution and the counterrevolution at the same time. Equally surprising to see a kind of free-for-all in tearing down the material and moral capacities of our national security services when it is obvious to anyone with a rational mind that in order to put an end to crime and gang violence we will have to rebuild the Ministry of Interior agencies, including the State Security Intelligence agency, so that it can perform its original tasks of fighting terrorism and espionage. Needless to say, this is not to suggest that any allowance should be made for abuse of authority, systematic torture, arbitrary arrest and other such crimes that members of State Security had committed, or that we should tolerate certain laws and regulations that have their origin not in the former regime but in the original sin that dates from the outset of the republican era.

The situation is clear. The romantic phase of the revolution has reached an end. The age of innocence should lead to a new age of maturity and robustness, which begins by dealing with the facts as they are, not as we would like them to be, and with the realities as they are, not as we imagine them to be. The sooner we apply this the greater will be our ability to address conditions that we had thought were gone for good. What we need is to build a democratic government founded upon the principle of true citizenship. We need to build a developmental structure than can propel us forward to where developed nations stand. We need to build a social structure based on recognition and respect of the other. We need to catch up with the rest of the world and to incorporate modern sciences and technology throughout the whole country and not just in parts of it. These tasks will require as much toil and sweat as the millions-strong demonstrations whose mission should be to ensure that all these tasks are proceeding in the right direction, but without obstructing them. This is the only way forward. The other alternatives are to be found in the revolutionary experiences referred to above. Revolutions either emerge from their romanticism and innocence to get down to serious and constructive work or they veer off in another direction. Where they end up exactly is impossible to predict, but history offers some very obvious clues.

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Nineteen-year-old Mohamed Fouad agrees, adding that for the first time the revolution has encouraged him to read the country's constitution and to find out more about Egypt's political decision-makers. "Now I feel that this country is my country, and I have many obligations and duties towards it. One of these obligations is to make sure that the right people are elected, people who represent me and can represent Egypt to the world as a whole," Fouad said.

Mohamed Ismail, the owner of a Facebook page, said that he intends to vote for "a programme and not a person" in future elections. For Ismail, the revolution was a transitional step on the path towards democracy, though Egyptian voters are still too ready to be swayed by emotions in their electoral preferences, choosing candidates based on personal considerations.

"Even now, we tend to believe what we are told about people, and this affects our decisions," Ismail commented. "For this reason, I would like to see the country's intellectuals and educated people explain the importance of electoral programmes to the people as a whole, especially less well-educated people."

Ahmed Samir, 19, agreed, adding that the Egyptian constitution guarantees every Egyptian the right to vote at age 18. "Unfortunately, the previous regime deprived us of our right to participate fully in politics, which is why we don't know how to make the right decisions in elections now."

"Asking people to vote in elections when they don't have the right political background is like asking them to drive without knowing the traffic regulations," he said. "Accidents could happen." People were eager to develop their political awareness and to put democracy into practice in Egypt, especially as they had been deprived of both for such a long time, but these things needed the development of civic education among the population, as well as the raising of political awareness, Samir believes.

"Young people need to learn to accept pluralism and the views of others in order to participate actively in public life and build a truly democratic society,'' he said.

Such convictions are not restricted to young people in Cairo and Alexandria, and they have spread to young people in all the country's governorates. Marwa El-Touki, 30, has set up an NGO called Awareness ( Waai ) in Mansoura in order to help young people there to become more aware of politics and even to serve as the core for a new political party.

"Egyptians have now begun to understand the political game. They have become more patriotic, and they have realised that it is they, the people, who are the most important elements in the country's development. It is for this reason that we set up the NGO in Mansoura -- in order to help people to create their present and their future with their own hands," El-Touki said.

In spring 1989, Turkish economist Timur Kuran wrote a widely noticed academic article, Sparks and Prairie Fires -- A Theory of Unanticipated Political Revolution, using economic tools to explain political revolutions. The revolutions Kuran considered were those in France (1789), Russia (1917) and Iran (1979), not knowing that his paper subject would attract additional interest through the revolutions in Eastern Europe in that very same year.

One of the main assumptions of Kuran's paper was the distinction between the private opinion individuals have and their publicly expressed opinion. In other words: people may conceal their true opinion about the political regime they live in. Why should they? Basically, because their behaviour comes at a cost. Expressing dissatisfaction with a government, particularly in unfree societies, may be punished with anything from social pressure over prison to torture, which is well known.

On the other hand, concealing one's true opinion brings with it long-time psychological costs as a result of being dishonest. Individuals will minimise the costs of their behaviour. Under a repressive, but stable regime, most people will find it prudent to remain outwardly loyal to the existing order. Their silence makes society appear stable, even though it may find itself in the throes of revolution.

Now assume there is a slight surge in the size of the open opposition, triggered by outside events or by more vocal protests of those few who have never hidden their criticism. This is when sparks can turn into a prairie fire: more and more individuals reach their boiling points, publicly express their dissatisfaction, and jump on the revolutionary bandwagon, accompanied by a sudden and massive shift in collective sentiment. This can bring the system to collapse, also because an increasing number of people believe it will do so. Kuran's approach also explains convincingly why all these revolutions seem so logical in hindsight, while usually, when they were happening, they even took political experts by surprise.

Now enter Facebook and Egypt -- but where and how? Many have underlined the importance of social media as mobilisation mechanisms and coordinating tools; some have even talked about a Facebook revolution. While social media may have had their merits in organising the protests, I believe that their true importance lies somewhere else. Again, it has to do with costs.

Both Facebook and Twitter allowed Egyptians to communicate, at very low costs, their disappointment with the government. This also included the mild opposition strategies of many of Egypt's more than five million Facebook users, such as changing profile photos into an Egyptian flag or a picture of an illuminated Tahrir Square. The costs of these strategies are low, in particular when compared to the old, non-Facebook world, where open disagreement usually involved physically attending a public protest at the risk of being arrested or beaten up. As a result, more and more individuals will express their dissatisfaction simply because others are doing so.

Furthermore, social media allow individuals more easily to find out about the true preferences of others. Seeing an increasing number of others change their profile photos, discuss the events or even express open criticism made it much easier to gauge the effective level of dissatisfaction in pre-revolution Egypt. This lowered the barrier for many to finally protest publicly; this is also what got the ball rolling.

Facebook paved the way for Tahrir Square. Leaders in China, Saudi Arabia and other countries that suppress civil liberties know all too well why they maintain tight controls on social media.
 

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Independent election monitors and an increased security presence helped to ensure that the vote was free and fair. Reports of violence and irregularities were minimal, marking an important turning point in Egyptian electoral politics.

The United States responded enthusiastically to the electoral process. U.S. Ambassador to Egypt Margaret Scobey called the referendum “an important step towards realizing the aspirations of the January 25 revolution,” and stated that, “The sight of Egyptians coming forward in unprecedented numbers to peacefully exercise their newly won freedoms is cause for great optimism, and will provide a foundation for further progress as Egyptians continue to build their democratic future.”

The new amendments to the constitution will make it easier for candidates to run in presidential elections, require a new constitution within one year of the next parliamentary elections, reintroduce full judiciary supervision of elections, limit presidents to two four-year terms, require the president to appoint a vice-president within 60 days of taking office, and limit states of emergency to six months before requiring a popular referendum. Egypt is now on track for parliamentary and presidential elections later this year.

Egyptian voters overwhelmingly approved a referendum on constitutional changes on Sunday that will usher in rapid elections, with the results underscoring the strength of established political organizations, particularly the Muslim Brotherhood, and the weakness of emerging liberal groups.

More than 14.1 million voters, or 77.2 percent, approved the constitutional amendments; 4 million, or 22.8 percent, voted against them. The turnout of 41 percent among the 45 million eligible voters broke all records for recent elections, according to the Egyptian government.

“This is the first real referendum in Egypt’s history,” said Mohamed Ahmed Attia, the chairman of the supreme judicial committee that supervised the elections, in announcing the results. “We had an unprecedented turnout because after Jan. 25 people started to feel that their vote would matter.”

President Hosni Mubarak was forced from power last month, 18 days after demonstrations against his three decades in power began Jan. 25. The referendum result paved the way for early legislative elections as early as June and a presidential race possibly in August. The ruling military council had sought the rapid timetable to ensure its own speedy exit from running the country.

The military council has been somewhat vague about the next steps. But Maj. Gen. Mamdouh Shaheen told the newspaper Al Shorouk in an interview published Sunday that the generals would issue a constitutional declaration to cover the changes and then set dates for the vote once the results were announced.

The Muslim Brotherhood and remnant elements of the National Democratic Party, which dominated Egyptian politics for decades, were the main supporters of the referendum. They argued that the election timetable would ensure a swift return to civilian rule.

Members of the liberal wing of Egyptian politics mostly opposed the measure, saying that they lacked time to form effective political organizations. They said early elections would benefit the Brotherhood and the old governing party, which they warned would seek to write a constitution that centralizes power, much like the old one.

Voters were asked to either accept or reject eight constitutional amendments as a whole — all of them designed to establish the foundations for coming elections. Most addressed some of the worst excesses of previous years — limiting the president to two four-year terms, for example, to avoid another president staying in office as long as Mr. Mubarak. The amendments were announced Feb. 25 after virtually no public discussion by an 11-member committee of experts chosen by the military.

“It is very, very disappointing,” said Hani Shukrallah, who is active in a new liberal political party and is the editor of Ahram Online, a news Web site.

He and many other opponents of the referendum said religious organizations had spread false rumors, suggesting that voting against the referendum would threaten Article 2 of the Constitution, which cites Islamic law as the main basis for Egyptian law.

“I saw one sign that said, ‘If you vote no you are a follower of America and Baradei, and if you vote yes you are a follower of God,’ ” he said. “The idea is that Muslims will vote yes and Copts and atheists will vote no.”

Mohamed ElBaradei, a former top United Nations nuclear official and a Nobel Prize winner planning to run for president, opposed the amendments, as did Amr Moussa, the secretary general of the Arab League, another potential presidential candidate.

In a vote remarkably free of problems, Mr. Baradei was attacked by a mob when he went to cast his ballot, fleeing a shower of rocks and bottles. His supporters said the mob was paid.

The results called into question how much the expected front-runners were really in tune with Egyptian voters.

Most “no” votes emerged from Cairo and Alexandria, Mr. Shukrallah noted, whereas support flowed in heavily from the provinces.

“The revolution was a revolution of the big cities,” he said. “The provinces are just not there. The secular values that drove the revolution have not reached them.”

Essam el-Erian, the spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood, hailed the results, saying that most Egyptians wanted to move forward toward rapid change, though he noted that the 23 percent opposed should not go unnoticed.

“This is an historic day and the start of a new era for Egypt,” he said in an interview. “We are moving away from a bad, autocratic and dictatorial system towards a democratic system. This is the first brick in building our democracy.”

It was the first time the Muslim Brotherhood had campaigned openly since the party was banned in 1954, and the group flexed its full organizational muscle — printing up countless fliers and posters, sending workers out to convince the undecided and driving voters to the polls.

In Cairo and around the country, Egyptians stood patiently in long lines on Saturday to vote, with waiting in the capital well over three hours. Many said they were voting for the first time, participating in the process alone bringing a sense of euphoria.

In previous elections, a turnout of around four to five million voters, or 10 to 15 percent of the electorate, was the norm. Many of them were bused in by the government and paid for their efforts.

This time people came of their own volition, and those on the losing side expressed a certain disappointment and apprehension.

“I believe that even with this result we can never go back to the way the country was,” said Hisham Hawass, 30, a university lecturer in the delta city of Mansoura. But he was worried about the strong Brotherhood showing. “I want our country to advance, and we will not advance if they win.”

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In January this year time caught up with Hosni Mubarak. For decades, all visible opposition in Egypt had been blocked. The country's political parties' activities had been curtailed. Professional federations had been disbanded. Labour unions were controlled by regime lackeys. Government departments and universities had their political security controlled by the police. As a result Mubarak's regime was incapable of addressing the challenges faced by the community. Perhaps inevitably, renewed popular forces emerged that swept him away.

However, every regime has a legitimacy. An assault against the regime means an assault against the legitimacy on which it is based. This creates a need for a new legitimacy, responsive to the demands of the new system and its political and social relations. This is why the formulation of a new constitution following the demise of Egypt's old regime was a necessity.

The revolutionary force that overthrew Mubarak was a popular movement. It did not have the organisational and institutional leadership to take power and replace the regime of the president, and so this fell to the army. In other words, political power was transferred to the supreme military council on the basis of revolutionary, not constitutional, legitimacy.

On the basis of this, the army declared its support for the Egyptian people, its acquisition of a lawful mandate to rule during a transitionary period, and its determination to protect the gains and foster the aspirations of the people. They issued a statement confirming that their assumption of power would be for a limited period of six months, and that the constitution was to be suspended (not set aside) and then amended. Meanwhile, the sources of legislative authority – the people's assembly and consultative council – were dissolved.

At this point, it is essential that the constitutional political institutions are rebuilt along democratic lines. This is the task of the committee charged with amending the 1971 constitution, of which I am chairman.

On Saturday a referendum was held that put before the Egyptian people the committee's various amendments to the 1971 constitution that would return it to its former position until a new constitution reflecting the political situation could be drawn up.

Had the majority of the Egyptian people voted no to the amendments, the supreme military council would have been free to decide what type of action to take, and what road to follow. But the majority of Egyptians have voted yes. The implication of this is that the supreme military council is now obliged, by the popular will, to follow the map proposed by the amendments for the transitional period: first, elections of both the lower and higher houses of parliament must be held within two to three months; once convened, the elected members of both houses must select a constitutional assembly of 100 members to draft a new constitution; presidential elections will follow, and the elected president is obliged to present the draft constitution to another referendum within a year.

The popular movement recently witnessed in Egypt has thus produced a number of significant and ongoing results: the first of these is the overthrow of Mubarak and his family. His downfall means that a regime has fallen and the state must be changed. Furthermore, many of the regime's leading figures have also been ousted. These include the group of businessmen associated with it, the policy committee of the National party and the supporters of Gamal Mubarak. It was they who controlled the entire political system for the last 10 years, without facing any noticeable opposition.

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Recent developments in Tunisia, Egypt, and increasingly throughout the rest of the Arab world have certainly been encouraging, and they raise the critical question of what happens next. How will these states be able to make the transition from the discredited authoritarian regimes of the old order to the new, democratic systems that people throughout the region are demanding?

The problem is that authoritarian regimes, by definition, do not possess the mechanisms necessary for peaceful democratic transitions. There is generally no constitutional framework for genuine democracy, and political opinion has been repressed for so long that nobody really knows which group or party enjoys genuine support.

The obvious solution is to hold an election -- but with which participants, on what basis, and within what constitutional framework?

South Africa's constitutional negotiations in the early 1990s may provide an instructive example for these new democracies to study. During the South African process, parties with long histories of hostility and suspicion came together and forged a new constitutional system under the most difficult circumstances.

The negotiations included both the African National Congress (ANC) led by Nelson Mandela, and its traditional arch-opponent, the ruling National Party, under my leadership. Other participants included the Zulu-based Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), the South African Communist Party, and parties representing the 10 black "bantustan" governments that had been established under apartheid.

Selecting the players for constitutional debates won't be quite so easy in Egypt. Change in South Africa had been expected for years. It was a foregone conclusion that the ANC, representing most blacks, would win the first democratic election. In Egypt, however, change came unexpectedly -- and nobody knows whether the Muslim Brotherhood, the left, or the present ruling party will emerge as the dominant group. Nonetheless, the South African experience demonstrates the necessity of inclusion.

Despite repeated crises and walkouts, these talks succeeded in producing a nonracial, democratic constitution that is widely regarded as one of the best in the world. How did we do it?
The negotiations had three distinct phases.

The first, preparatory, phase followed my speech to Parliament on Feb. 2, 1990, during which I announced the formal end of the apartheid system and Mandela's release from prison nine days later. This phase included three preliminary meetings in Cape Town and Pretoria that dealt primarily with granting immunity to ANC rebels to enable them to return from exile and suspend the group's decades of armed struggle. In Egypt it will also be necessary to determine how previously proscribed groups, like the Muslim Brotherhood, will participate in the transition.

The preparatory talks also dealt with the escalating racial violence that presented a serious obstacle throughout the negotiations. We addressed the problem by adopting a National Peace Accord on Sept. 14, 1991. The accord established a National Peace Secretariat, a National Peace Committee comprising all the accord signatories, and a national peace commission under the chairmanship of Judge Richard Goldstone, chief justice of the Supreme Court, to investigate and report on violence and intimidation.

The second phase of the negotiations, the multiparty Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) talks, commenced on Dec. 21, 1991, with the adoption of a declaration of intent. The declaration sketched the broad outline of the kind of state that all the parties wanted, including: a united, democratic, nonracial and nonsexist political system; a constitution guarded over by an impartial judiciary; a multiparty democracy based on proportional representation; separation of powers with appropriate checks and balances; acknowledgement of South Africa's diverse languages, cultures, and relations; and a Bill of Rights with equality of all before the law.

The CODESA negotiations dealt with myriad thorny issues, including the creation of a media and political climate to allow free participation, the reincorporation of black homelands, and ensuring free and fair elections. By far the toughest negotiations involved setting up the new constitution. The main problem was the ANC's insistence that the constitution should be drawn up by a duly elected national convention, while minority parties maintained that agreement on the constitution should precede the first elections.

The impasse was resolved toward the end of the process by the ingenious device of adopting an interim constitution under the terms of which the first election would be held. The newly elected Parliament would then adopt a final constitution. To allay minority fears, the final constitution would also have to comply with 35 immutable constitutional principles.

On June 17, 1992, constitutional talks collapsed over failure to reach agreement on the percentages by which the final document would have to be adopted -- and because of escalating violence. It was widely suspected that ANC leaders were under pressure from the group's more radical elements about the concessions they were making during the negotiations.

The walkout may have been a means to calm down these aggressive factions so that the process could move forward. I don't believe ANC leaders ever truly meant to derail the process, though publicly they said they would make the country ungovernable through mass action. Eventually the talks resumed without drastic measures such as imposing martial law, thereby demonstrating the importance of patience, even under the most trying of political deadlocks.

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The uprisings sweeping the Arab world haven't only toppled dictatorships. Gone, too, are the old stereotypes of Arab women as passive, voiceless victims. Over the past few months, the world has seen them marching in Tunisia, shouting slogans in Bahrain and Yemen, braving tear gas in Egypt, and blogging and strategizing in cyberspace.

Egyptian activist Asmaa Mahfouz, 26, became known as "The Leader of the Revolution" after she posted an online video call to arms, telling young people to get out onto the streets and demand justice. In Libya, women lawyers were among the earliest anti-Qaddafi organizers in the revolutionary stronghold of Benghazi. Arabs were bemused that the Western media was shocked — shocked! — to find women protesting alongside men.

"There was this sense of surprise, that 'Oh, my god, women are actually participating!' notes Egyptian activist Hadil El-Khouly. "But of course women were there, in Tahrir Square. I was there, because I'm Egyptian. Everyone was there. You really felt we were all one."

But the bliss of revolutionary dawn never lasts. When Tunisian women's groups held a post-revolution rally to demand equality, thugs disrupted the gathering, yelling "Women at home, in the kitchen!" And on March 8, a march in Cairo to commemorate International Women's Day ended in violence, with gangs of men groping protestors and telling them to go home.

"It was a horrible irony, that on International Women's Day, a march for women's rights could face that kind of egregious harassment in Cairo's Tahrir Square, a symbol of freedom," says Priyanka Motaparthy, a research fellow in the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch. "It was an incredibly violent way of trying to scare [the women] out of the public space."

Women are good for revolutions, but historically, revolutions haven't been good for women. In 1789, French women took to the streets to protest against high bread prices and the excesses at Versailles. They helped topple the monarchy, but within a few years, the revolutionary government had banned all women's political clubs. In Iran, women came out in force to march against the Shah in 1979; Ayatollah Khomeini rewarded them by requiring the veil and curbing their legal rights. And now, as Tunisians and Egyptians hammer out the nature of their nations' futures, women are being required to fight for their rights in a whole new way.

"There is no turning back," says Margot Badran, Senior Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center in Washington D.C., and the author of Feminism in Islam: Secular and Religious Convergences. "The violence [against the March 8 protestors] has only strengthened resolve."

The participation of women during Tunisia and Egypt's transitions to democracy remains a crucial litmus test of the revolutions. Exclude women, and the whole concept of sweeping away a privileged political caste crumbles. As Moroccan activist Saida Kouzzi observes: "If these countries continue to neglect the rights of the great majority of their citizens, then what good do these revolutions do?"

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U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told Egyptians on Tuesday that "this moment of history belongs to you," and they should use it to build on the success of the revolution that ousted the country's longtime autocratic leaders and to embrace democratic reforms.

"Today, Egypt is rising. Egypt, the mother of the world, is now giving birth to democracy," Clinton said.

Making her first visit to what she called the "new Egypt," Clinton said the country's path to elections and greater freedom will be hard work but that America will help.

The first U.S. cabinet-level official to visit Cairo since the fall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Clinton said the transition that is happening now is as important as the peaceful protests that toppled the entrenched leadership.

Americans were inspired by the revolution, Clinton said, adding that Egyptians should make good on it by building an inclusive society that is more open, more prosperous and more free.

"To the people of Egypt, let me say: this moment of history belongs to you," Clinton said following talks with Egypt's new foreign minister, Nabil al-Araby. "This is your achievement and you broke barriers and overcame obstacles to pursue the dream of democracy."

Clinton applauded an announcement Tuesday of further dismantling of the state security apparatus and said Egypt now needs to prepare for free, fair elections to produce "leaders that will be able to respond to (your) aspirations."

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Forget the war drama of Libya for a moment.

The real show — the more important one, in the long run — is playing out in Egypt, the epicenter of the Arab world, where the adrenaline of revolt is fading to the nitty-gritty of building democracy, said an Omaha college professor whose specialty puts him in the thick of it.

“Egypt really is the linchpin” of this winter surprise — the Arab Revolution, as some call it — “a transformative moment in the Middle East, the end of the American order,” said John Calvert, a Creighton University historian who specializes in the roots of radical Islamism.

Much of the future remains murky. How far will the revolts spread? What other rulers will be unseated? Can the power that citizens seize in the streets be translated into functioning democracies? But one basic seems clear, Calvert said: Rulers in the region never again can take people’s support for granted.

The Egyptians’ Feb. 11 overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak and his police state “is one of the great moments of our time,” Calvert said. “And a nonviolent revolution — my God!”

Although Americans are historically wired to sympathize with fellow democrats and dictator dumpers, the political landscape taking shape across the Middle East will be more complicated for the United States to deal with, regardless of what kind of governments emerge.

No longer can Washington maintain a web of stability just by influencing a few friendly Arab rulers, Calvert said. Instead it “must accommodate to the new reality” of awakened populations.

“They’re writing the story now,” he said. “We’re in the backseat.”

Acknowledging the uncertainties, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in a U.N. speech two weeks ago, proposed a guideline: “Political participation must be open to all people across the spectrum who reject violence, uphold equality and agree to play by the rules of democracy.”

President Obama, though he couldn’t have foreseen the current upheaval, offered a similar invitation in a 2009 speech to the Muslim world, calling for “a new beginning” and saying no inherent conflict exists between Islam and democratic politics.

That address was delivered from Egypt’s capital — an acknowledgment of the lead role that country, the Arab world’s most populous, has played in culture and politics for centuries.

Nothing guarantees that Egypt’s emerging political system will be copied elsewhere, but it will carry powerful influence as an example of what’s possible, Calvert said.

It will have to be built in a nation that, because of its police-state past, is almost devoid of civil society — the voluntary groups Americans are so familiar with, from social clubs to church councils to trade unions and Neighborhood Watches — which political theorists see as the glue of a democracy. Among the big forces to watch in Egypt, Calvert said:

» Islamist sentiment. Western fear of an Iran-style theocracy “is nonsense,” Calvert said, because Egyptians are too secular. Although the Muslim Brotherhood — the world’s oldest Islamist group — is Egypt’s best-organized opposition force, it’s badly divided between a conservative old guard and pragmatic youth wing and also has pledged itself to working within democracy. Best guess, Calvert said: It might win 25 percent of the vote in an election today.

Calvert noted that al-Qaida — the loudest Islamist voice for the overthrow of Arab rulers — practically sat out this revolution. He said Osama bin Laden’s network, apparently caught flat-footed, is now more likely to eye the chaos of Libya than the democratic ferment of Egypt.

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Egypt's military rulers plan to scrap a law that has severely restricted the formation of political parties, a government official said Saturday, the latest liberalization of the strict regime of ousted President Hosni Mubarak.

The official said that the restrictions that gave Mubarak a virtual veto over establishment of political parties would be lifted after a referendum next week on constitutional changes to allow for fair parliamentary and presidential elections.

Alongside the pledge for reform, that was a clear statement that the rulers are rejecting demands by reformers to postpone or call off the referendum.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters, said new political parties will only need to notify authorities of their formation. Under Mubarak, they had to receive approval from a committee dominated by his ruling party, which ensured his control over rivals. The referendum scheduled March 19 asks Egyptians to vote on changes that would loosen restrictions on who could run for president, opening the field to independents and candidates from small opposition parties. Also, it would impose a two-term limit on future presidents.

The previous system allowed Mubarak to rule for three decades and gave his ruling National Democratic Party a veto over who could run against him.

Critics say the changes don't go deep enough to change what they see as a faulty constitution, nor do they limit the powers of the next president.

The protesters also complain the plan to hand over power to a civilian administration six months after the military took charge means that parliamentary elections would come too soon and deny new political parties a chance to campaign. They fear old that political players, such as Mubarak's ruling party or the Muslim Brotherhood, would take control of a new parliament.

The Brotherhood, Egypt's best organized political group, welcomed the proposed amendments and said it will vote in favor. The group's spokesman, Essam el-Erian, said in a statement on the group's website Saturday that the changes require a new parliament to write a new constitution that would meet further calls for change.

Also Saturday, two cousins jailed for their role in the assassination of then-president Anwar Sadat in 1981 were released to a huge welcome, their lawyer Nizar Ghorab said.

The military council ordered their release Thursday.

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Egypt's interior minister said the state security apparatus will be restricted to combating terrorism and espionage and he apologised for past 'violations'. the official state news agency MENA reported Thursday.

Minister Mansour el-Essawy said the system could not be dissolved but it would play no further role in citizens' daily lives.

"(The minister) apologised to the Egyptian people for the violations that took place on the part of some elements of the police apparatus in the past," reported MENA. The apology will be issued in a statement by the ministry.

Egyptians say state security police, a branch of the police force, have treated citizens with a very heavy hand. Antagonism grew after police clashed with demonstrators during protests that led to the toppling of president Hosni Mubarak on February 11.

Activists broke into the agency's premises and posted documents and videos online which they said were proof of abuses carried out by state security police.

The posts include pictures of what was described as a torture chamber with a blood-stained floor and equipped with chains, and security files showing the extent of the agency's intrusion into citizens' lives.

The online material led many to call on the military council that took over from Mubarak to dissolve the security organ, which justified its brutality in light of the country's emergency law, in force since 1981.
The plan to restructure the security apparatus will be presented to the prime minister as soon as possible, MENA said.

Egypt's police forces have returned to work across the country, el-Essawi said, after they withdrew from the streets on January 28 fearing attacks by citizens.

El-Essawi said the country's regular police force totalled 269,000 and state security police did not exceed 170,000. He said these numbers would be reviewed to ensure they met actual requirements.

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Standard & Poor's took a step back from a potential downgrade of Egypt's BB long-term foreign currency credit rating on Thursday, citing improved prospects for political transition.

Egypt was removed from S&P's CreditWatch with negative implications, which serves as a warning for potentially imminent rating actions.

The rating was affirmed while a negative outlook remained, leaving it vulnerable to a possible downgrade this year or next, the firm said in a statement.

"The affirmation of Egypt's ratings reflects our view that the immediate risks to the government's credit standing have receded," S&P said.

S&P said "if the political transition falters or if concessional external financing does not materialize to finance fiscal deficits -- which we forecast to be in the range of 9 percent to 11 percent of GDP for the next few years -- then we could lower Egypt's ratings later this year or in 2012."

Egypt is rated similarly by Moody's Investors Service at Ba2 and BB by Fitch Ratings.

The political future of Egypt remains in question after a popular uprising drove long-time President Hosni Mubarak from power.

Presidential and parliamentary elections, due later this year, are being watched closely for signs of how democratic the country's political life will be after more than three decades of state oppression which crated a toothless opposition and stifled political activity, political analysts say.

"The ratings could stabilize at current levels, in our view, if Egypt's political transition strengthens the social contract and if government debt dynamics remain within our forecast of net general government debt reaching a plateau of 62 percent of GDP (gross domestic product)," S&P sovereign credit analyst Mike Noone said.

Earlier on Thursday, Egyptian Finance Minister Samir Radwan said the economy may grow as slowly as 3 percent when the fiscal year ends in June if domestic production does not get back on track.

The government was expecting growth of 6 percent before Mubarak's government was toppled last month.

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CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt's reformist Mohamed ElBaradei announced on Wednesday that he planned to run for president in an election expected to be held this year.

It was the first time that ElBaradei, who won the Nobel peace prize in 2005, has explicitly announced he would run for president after President Hosni Mubarak was overthrown by an 18-day popular uprising last month.

"When the door of presidential nominations opens, I intend to nominate myself," ElBaradei said on a live talk show on privately-owned ONTV channel.

ElBaradei, 68, also said that he would vote against constitutional amendments in a referendum set for March 19, adding that a new constitution must be drawn instead.

"I will not vote for these constitutional amendments, I will vote against these amendments," he said.

"The current constitution fell. It would be an insult to the revolution if we decided to retrieve this constitution," ElBaradei said, calling instead for "a new constitution, a presidential vote and then parliamentary vote."

The former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) called on the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which has been running the country since Mubarak stepped down, to delay or cancel the referendum for constitutional amendments.

"We are going in the opposite direction. I call on the military council to delay or cancel the referendum," he said.

Read the full article here.

Young and old Cairenes recently packed into a smoke-filled room in downtown Cairo for famed novelist Alaa Al Aswany’s first post-Mubarak salon. The anachronistic evening was a reminder of Twitterless days when people sought face-to-face communication to talk about political concerns.

Throughout Middle East history, salons such as Mr. Aswany’s have provided forums where compatriots conspired, formed alliances, and criticized their nation’s leaders. While the author has been holding salons for 15 years, it was only in the days following Hosni Mubarak's ouster that the gatherings have revolved around the real possibility of building democracy in Egypt.

“I think there is a new enlightenment,” says 60-year-old photographer Ninette. “The gathering is very important these days because it’s important to exchange ideas.”

As Egyptians guard reforms hard-won over the past two months and push for more change, people like Aswany are making sure there are forums to discuss the democratic transition. A co-founder of opposition movement Kefeya ("Enough") and prime voice in pushing for the resignation last week of former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq, his salons have been held every Thursday since Mubarak stepped down on Feb. 11.
Unprecedented criticism

At the first discussion held in the giddy days following Mubarak's ouster, more than 100 political activists, academics, businessmen and youths sat in rows before Aswany and crowded shoulder-to-shoulder in the back of the room. Celebratory garland and boxes of pastries adorned a table. A man in a mint green shirt squeezed through the crowd, placing cups of Turkish coffee on ring-stained tables.

Laughter came in bursts throughout Aswany’s talk when he referred to the regime as “pets” and “darlings.” But aside from the occasional joke, his words remained largely serious and primarily political.

“Constitutions fall with regimes. So the constitution we had before cannot work for us now, especially because it is not a proper one,” Aswany said during his hour-long talk Feb. 17 in a building belonging to the center-left political party Hizb al-Karama. “It gives [a great deal of] power to the president. He's almost the president of life itself."

Such political criticism has rarely been voiced so freely here. Mubarak’s regime tried to suppress intellectuals like Aswany, even kicking him out of a café several years ago for hosting a political discussion.

“[The government] didn’t want his articles and voice to reach the people because then the people would have opinions and think about what’s going on,” says Bassam Awfiq, who has followed Aswany’s writings for several years. “Hopefully this will change now.”

Read the full article here.

At the height of the protests in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, I saw the crowds cleaved by a stream of girls and young women in pink and blue veils. Men formed a shield around them so they could move through the square unimpeded.

When a solitary man tried to join the procession, he was turned away: “No! This is the women’s revolution.” To which one of the women added: “We are here as women, but we are speaking out for everyone.”

The novelist and essayist Ahdaf Soueif, who was in the square passing out cookies, was in an ecstatic mood. “What we are seeing is not a shift in personality, but people finally able to access their personalities.” She says she and her women friends were thinking of issuing a statement asking, “Can we get rid of this whole gender thing?”

In the euphoric, even utopian, atmosphere of Tahrir, everyone talked of the Egyptians’ psychological breakthrough. Walls of fear, class, and even gender were broken. There was no feminism or ideology. Women were simply demanding the same pragmatic constitutional changes that every Egyptian wants.

Everything is up for debate, including the Islamic laws that remain within the Constitution. But the “gender thing” cannot be so easily expunged in a culture where women have been, in many respects, second-class citizens, despite the crucial role they have always played in nurturing democracy and nationalism over the last century.

Unlike in Saudi Arabia, where women cannot even drive a car, women in Egypt have always held prominent public roles in the media, film, literature, and civil society. Nonetheless, patriarchal laws are still inscribed in the Constitution. And conservative mores have steadily seeped into the culture from the Gulf states, where millions of Egyptians have been forced to migrate for work over the last few decades. The numbers of women in Parliament, for example, are telling: only four won seats in the 2005 elections.

The story of Egyptian female power may date back to Cleopatra, but the name I heard among women and intellectuals around Tahrir (Liberation) Square was that of Hoda Shaarawi, who was in the forefront of the 1919 revolution against the British and, in 1923, famously tossed off her veil in public.

It was a symbolic act of rebellion, resented by the religious establishment and too shocking for universal adoption, but Shaarawi inspired a generation with her inch-by-inch fight for women’s personal and political rights—the abolition of polygamy, the right to divorce.

Around the time Shaarawi died in 1947, a girl named Nawal El Saadawi in Kafr Tahla, a village north of Cairo, had already taken up the torch. Jailed, menaced, and exiled throughout her life, Saadawi is now 79 and could be found protesting in the square every day.

Saadawi’s father was a progressive man, an official who had taken part in the 1919 rebellion but followed the custom of having his daughter (one of nine children) married off at the age of 10. Or, rather, trying. Nawal had already fallen in love with literature. She’d read Jane Eyre and pretended to be mad when the suitors came around.

She went on to graduate from medical school, become a chest surgeon, and marry a fellow student who ran off to Suez as a guerrilla fighter against the British and returned a broken man and drug addict. In the 1967 war with Israel she volunteered as a doctor in the trenches and in the Palestinian camps in Jordan.

The experience radicalized her. She wrote a novel about a Palestinian fighter she’d met. In 1972 she broke even more taboos than Hoda Shaarawi did by writing Women and Sex, which dealt with female desire, religion, and genital mutilation. Unsurprisingly, it angered the religious and political authorities. By then she’d been working in the Ministry of Health for 14 years. She was dismissed, the beginning of years of persecution.

On the 12th day of the demonstrations I visited her modest four-room home in the 26th floor of an apartment tower in the working-class neighborhood of Shobra. “The young men hugged and kissed me,” she said. “They tell me, ‘You were our inspiration to do this revolution.’ Even young men in the Muslim Brothers said, ‘Thank you for your books—we respect you.’ I was crying.”

She wore a black-wool hooded cape against the winds that howled through the open porch doors. The cold kept her fresh, she told me, in between phone calls. Media from all over the world wanted a soundbite.

“Veiling and nakedness are two faces of the same coin,” she told one reporter. “Women are sex objects in the free market. I am against makeup. Plastic surgery is a postmodern veil,” she said, looking at me, smiling, laughing silently. A bit of a ham, she’s been collecting these one-liners for decades. To me, she said, “I divorced three men. Why? Ha ha! For my freedom. So I could write. I’ve had a terrible life.” She paused, reconsidered. “And wonderful.”
 

Read the full article here.

But they were exploited very soon by those who wanted to exploit the situation to create chaos and destroy the constitution. These demonstrations moved from a civilized expression of practicing freedom of speech to sad confrontations which were -- which were organized by political groups who wanted to throw fire on the oil and to threaten the stability and provoke and create looting and destruction and fires and to block roads and attack national possessions and public and private possessions, and attacks on some diplomatic missions on Egypt.

We are living together difficult days, and what is -- what hurts our hearts the most and the fear which has overtaken most Egyptians and the anxiety which has overtaken them regarding what tomorrow will bring for them and their families and the future and destiny of their country.

The events of the last few days impose on us all, as people and as a leadership, choosing between chaos and stability and brings in front of us new circumstances and a different Egyptian reality, which our people and our army must deal with in the most wise of way in order to protect Egypt's interests and its children.

My brother and sisters, citizens, I have initiated the formation of a new government with new priorities and initiatives which will respond to our young people's demands and their anxieties. And in dialogue with all political forces, we have discussed all the issues that have been raised regarding democratic and political reforms which will -- and the constitutional changes which they will require in order to fulfill these legitimate demands and the restoration of stability and security.

But there are political forces who have rejected this invitation for dialogue, holding on to their private agendas, and without concern for Egypt's situation, and with their rejection for my invitation to dialogue, which is still on.

I will directly speak to my people, from its peasants, workers, Muslims, and cooks, its old people and its young people, and to all Egyptian men and women in the countryside and in the cities across the land, and in all the districts, I never wanted power or prestige, and people know the difficult circumstances in which I shouldered the responsibility and what I have given to the homeland during war and during the peace.

I am also a man of the army, and it is not in my nature to -- to give up responsibility. My first responsibility now is to restore the security and stability of the homeland, to achieve a peaceful transition of power in an environment that will protect Egypt and Egyptians, and which will allow for responsibility to be given to whoever the people will elect in the forthcoming elections.

I will say with all honesty -- and without looking at this particular situation -- that I was not intent on -- on standing for the next elections, because I have spent enough time in serving Egypt, and I am now careful to conclude my work for Egypt by presenting Egypt to the next government in a constitutional way which will protect Egypt.

I want to say in clear terms that, in the next few months that are remaining of my current reign, I will work very hard to carry out all the necessary measures to transfer power to the authorized legitimate.

The constitutional item 77 and 76 (ph) should be changed according to allow very specific periods for presidency, and in order for the parliament to be able to discuss these constitutional changes and the legislative changes which -- of the laws linked to the constitution, and in order to guarantee that all political powers will contribute to these discussions, I ask of the parliament to commit to -- to speed up the elections.

I will pursue the transfer of power in a way that will fulfill the people's demands and that this new government will fulfill the people's demands and their hopes for political, economic and social progress, and for the provision of employment opportunities and fighting poverty and achieving social justice.

And in this context, I want to ask the police to carry out their role in protecting the citizens honestly and to respect their rights and freedoms and their dignity.

I also want to ask censorship authorities and legislative authorities to carry out immediately every measure to pursue those who are corrupt and those who have been responsible for what has happened of all the destructive acts and looting and fires that have taken place in Egypt. This is my promise for the people during the next few months that remain of my current leadership. I ask of God that he will help me to do my job in a way that will be satisfactory to God and to my homeland and its people.

Egypt will come out of these difficult circumstances stronger than it used to be before, more confident, more -- more united, and more stable. Our people will become much more aware of its own self- interests and more careful not to sacrifice its destiny and its stability.

Hosni Mubarak, who's speaking to you today, is proud of all the long years he's spent in the service of people of Egypt. This dear country is my country, just like it is the homeland of every Egyptian man and woman.

I have lived in this country. I have fought for it. I have defended its sovereignty and interest, and I will die on its land, and history will judge me and others.

The homeland will remain, and people will disappear, and Egypt will always remain, and its flag will always be high. And it is our duty to achieve this with dignity and honor, generation after generation.

May God protect this homeland and its people, and peace be upon you, and God's mercy and blessings.

A spokesman for the Egyptian army yesterday made a statement promising that the army would not use force against the Egyptian people. Read the translation below:

Your Armed Forces acknowledges the legitimacy of the people's demands and is adamant on carrying out its responsibilities in protecting the country and its citizens as ever.

We stress the following:

1. Peaceful freedom of expression is guaranteed for everyone.

2. [No-one] shall carry out an action that could endanger the country's safety and security or vandalise public and private property.

3. It is not acceptable that some outlaws have terrorised citizens. The Armed Forces will not allow it. It will not allow the safety and security of the country to be tampered with.

4. [To citizens] Keep safe the assets and capabilities of your great people. Resist any vandalism against public or private property.

5. The Armed Forces is aware of the legitimate demands of the honourable citizens.

6. The Armed Forces' presence on the Egyptian streets is for your own sake, safety and security. Your Armed Forces have not and will not resort to the use of force against this great people.

CAIRO—Egypt's interior minister accused an al Qaeda-linked Palestinian militant group in the Gaza Strip of killing at least 21 Christian Egyptians when it bombed a church in the northern port city of Alexandria on New Year's Day.

Habib al Adly said he had "conclusive evidence" that the Army of Islam planned the attacks and may have recruited Egyptians to execute the bombing, which also injured about 100 Christians. The Army of Islam denied responsibility for the bombing on its website.

In a statement emailed to reporters Sunday night, the ministry of the interior said Ahmed Lotfi Ibrahim Mohammed, who it said was born in 1984 in Alexandria, had confessed to helping organize the attack. According to the ministry's statement, Mr. Mohammed first visited the Gaza Strip in 2008 to seek out radical groups affiliated with al Qaeda. Last October, it said, he proposed two churches and a synagogue as possible targets, one of which, the Church of Two Saints, was ultimately attacked on New Year's Day.

If the accusations are true, they could validate concerns that the unresolved conflict between residents of the Palestinian coastal enclave and Israel is spilling over into neighboring countries.

Still, some analysts said that by blaming Gaza-based militants, the Egyptian government may hope to vindicate its cooperation with Israel, whose efforts to isolate Hamas, an Islamist group that has governed the Gaza Strip for nearly four years, have been widely criticized in Egypt.

Read the full story at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703398504576099932110457122.html?KEYWORDS=egypt#printMode

ANSWER: Well, I don’t think we have done something special last week. But it is more really the accumulation of the reform that has taken place in the last few years. Because at the end of the day, I look at a company like Nestle and they depend on growth of markets. They want to make sure that there is increase in demand. And that is happening not because of increase of population but increase of income. They are going to go into more expensive products which is more a reflection of the level of purchasing power in the market. Second, of course they are also interested in long term stability because this is not hot money; this is not going to be an investment in stocks that they can pull out of it in a matter of days or hours or seconds. These are going to be in assets, in distribution and people. This going to be for the next 15-20 years. So they are very much interested in the stability environment. And third is the business environment. Nestle have been in Egypt for 70 years. Operating initially as exporter, and then through distributors and so on. But as in investment in Egypt they have been here for the last 10 years. Why they are increasing because they are seeing that the business environment is improving. The ability for them to get protection from copyrights, the ability that they can distribute, the ability that they can have better now outlets because of the modernization of trade and the introduction of modern trade and hypermarkets and supermarkets. All these things create an environment that attracts companies like Nestle. Because they see Egypt, a market with a population of 80 million people growing at 6-7 % every year, it doesn’t take much to understand that this is going to be a very significant market in the next 10-15 years. So the model of China and India and the BRICs, people are now looking at the second tier of countries. And as you know , Egypt was identified as one of the what is called the Next 11, the N-11, Egypt was identified as a CIVET, so there is a lot of analysis and a lot of analysts around the world who understand that with this kind of population, this kind of economic growth, the plans that we have in place, this is going to at the end translated into a very interesting market for companies and that’s why companies come here.
 

QUESTION: After the violence in Tunisia there may be some fears for the stability in the region and Egypt. What do you tell investors when they ask you?

ANSWER: Of course it’s very natural that when people look at what’s happening in Tunisia, but let’s also put that in context. The concern was the reality that there is a very severe inflation in food products. Obviously a political disturbance of the scale of Tunisia, which turns into a revolution and change of regime, worries a lot of people. It makes a lot of people ask questions about the stability of the region, the stability of many countries. We are seeing people also objecting to the increase of prices in places like Algeria and Jordan these days. It raises questions about how the political stability of the region is. At the end of the day, Egypt has already taken measures since 2004 to deal with two very important economic factors. From day one, we made it very clear that our economic reform is taking place because we want to create more jobs and we want to improve the living conditions including the ability to cover people’s needs. And we have done significantly a lot of that in the last 5-6 years. We created more than 4 million jobs. During the crisis of 2008, we put in place a subsidy system that covers essential food products for 62 million Egyptian citizens. Things like sugar, vegetable oil, rice, tea and of course we have a full coverage of subsidy for bread, plus a subsidy that we have for energy products in Egypt. This is a unique program in the region. You will not have a country in the region that does this.

QUESTION: But in the meantime the stock exchange lost more than 6% in one week.

ANSWER: And recovered 1% at the end, yes. There is a short of shock wave.  Of course, this is very natural. You know that’s why I’m saying the judgment has to be on the long term money, not the hot money. The hot money will come in and out all the time. 

QUESTION: Nestle said that it’s sourcing most of its inputs locally. And one of the major destabilizing factors in Tunisia is the issues of rising food prices. So if Nestle is going to be sourcing most of its inputs from here, wouldn’t that have an effect on the cost of food for your average consumer?

ANSWER: No, but that would be problem if they are sourcing all of this food and eating it. But they are not eating it. They are selling it back in the market place. This is not their consumption. This is production. In reality food processing and food processing companies are one of the long term solutions for the self sufficiency of food in any country. Because what they do is reduce the level of waste. I’m talking general. I’m not talking about Nestle now. But I’m telling you that any food company and Nestle is a food company, they are now processing food, packaging food, selling food products. They are sourcing raw material. But at the end of it they are offering meals, drinks, snacks, whatever. Things that people consume as food products. That in itself is a way to economies and upgrade the value of food products in any society. So this is positive. So the reality if they are sourcing some of their products here in Egypt, well, as I said, they will sell it in terms of more processed products. It’s not going to be that they will consume it themselves.

QUESTIONS: What I wanted to ask is…big investments like those are important not only because they generate jobs, but usually the middle class is considered to be the engine of growth. What are you doing to help graduates from universities and schools to have their own businesses? I mean as far as I know when I talk to people it’s completely impossible to find the way through the jungle of corruption and paperwork and all this. What are you planning to change this?

ANSWER: Ok … what you are asking me is apart from offering jobs for people to be employees, what are we doing to help them become entrepreneurs? Because jobs like Nestle and others like Khorafi and General Motors and so on, they are also going to young people, so they are offered also to graduates and helping to create a middle income level in Egypt. But the question you are asking is what are we doing more to small and medium (enterprises). We are doing a lot because we understand, as you say, that the environment at the moment is not very easy to start businesses, so we have been working in the past two years specifically on a number of plans to do with the small and medium start ups in Egypt. But let me tell you that the numbers are not very gloomy. Yes, there is challenge in that but like any country in the world we have something called the commercial registrate. So if you do any activity you have to register yourself in the commercial registrate. And that covers any activity from the level of having a one man company you know or even if you buy a truck and you decide to use the truck for your own business transportation. Or you open your own kiosk in the street and you sell cigarettes. You need to have your own commercial registrate. All the way to the banks. So the number every month, the average we have been running, because that commercial registrate reports to the ministry here and I will make sure you get complete data on that the number that is coming out every month at the moment is close to 20,000 a month. New ones. So you have 20,000 new businesses starting in Egypt every month, at different size and different levels, and we can give you the split by governorates. So most of them, 99% of those, are small and medium. Of course the big question is how many of those survive? Because many of those will not survive. But by the way that is also the rate. If you go to the United States for instance, in the area of small business, the survival rate is 40%. So 60%.. yea… but some people say that most of them cannot survive. What people don’t know as you just said now is that this is the norm.

We have of course the social development program in Egypt which is dealing with something like 45,000 new businesses a year. We have the Industrial modernization program dealing with about 14,000 every year, new ones in industry. We are trying to do something in the area of trade. So there are a lot of programs that is coming into place. And there is a lot of funding coming into that area including the reality, and I’m sure the Ministry of Investment can provide you with some of this information, the number of venture capital and angel programs that have been created in the last 3 years. Because we are aware that the banks are not the best financing places for these small projects. So we are trying. It will take time but we are moving. We are aware as you said, this is very very important. Just creating companies and employees is not the only way to get this moved.

CNN's Marketplace Middle East talks to Egyptian Trade Minister Rachid Mohamed Rachid about the economic impact of the private sector in the region following Tunisia's political upheaval.

To read more, please click here.

On Jan. 6, the eve of Coptic Christmas, thousands of Muslims showed up at Mass to act as human shields and show their solidarity with the beleaguered Christian community.

As a Christian and an Egyptian, I was heartbroken by the New Year's Eve terrorist attack on the Coptic Church of Alexandria that killed 21 of my countrymen. Whether this heinous act was carried out by Egyptians or by terrorist groups from outside the country, the intention was surely the same: to sow discord between Muslims and Christians in a country long known for its religious tolerance.

The attack seems to fall within a larger pattern of violence against Christians elsewhere in the Middle East. Indeed, extremist groups that target Christians in Iraq explicitly stated their intention to bring their war against Christians to Egypt.

But while the recent attack led to an outpouring of anger among Copts, Egypt—unlike other countries in the region—has been remarkably immune to the scourge of sectarianism.

The Copts in Egypt are the largest Christian population in the Middle East, and today they make up some 10% of the population. Christians in Egypt exercise their faith freely, and they occupy leading positions in government, business and public life. There's no such thing as "Muslim neighborhoods" or "Christian ghettos" in Egypt.

Egypt's history—a millennium and a half of peaceful Muslim-Christian coexistence, and a civil state-building project that dates back to the early 19th century—has been a model of religious tolerance in the region. That legacy was made clear following the new year: On Jan. 6, the eve of Coptic Christmas, thousands of Muslims gathered around churches across the country to act as human shields, protecting their Christian neighbors during their Mass. This coincided with huge demonstrations during which Muslims and Christians held up the Koran and the cross in unison as a symbol of national unity.

My own family story is a testament to this history. Beginning with the appointment of my grandfather as prime minister over a century ago, my family has been privileged to hold positions of high office as part of a proud tradition of Coptic public service. His sons, my uncles, then went on to join Egypt's independence movement, alongside its leader Saad Zaghaloul.

Still, there's no denying that recent events could mark a turn for the worst. Simmering tensions between Egypt's two main religious communities threaten to permanently erode our historic culture of tolerance.

Egypt is a deeply religious society. Historically an anchor of pluralism, this piety has gradually come to be defined in exclusive terms. On satellite TV and social networking websites, outward signs of religiosity are exploited to erode any sense of national identity.

Improvements in state institutions have certainly strengthened the principle of equality before the law. But the contest for Egyptian identity has shifted to the social and communal realm. This has paralleled an unfortunate failure on the part of religious leaders to emphasize the nearly identical values of mutual respect and human dignity in Islam and Christianity.

The only solution is to strengthen Egyptians' sense of citizenship. It's a goal that I have been deeply committed to as chairman of the National Council on Human Rights, which has already taken serious steps to reinforce the civil nature of the state.

Read the full article here.

CAIRO: The world’s largest food and beverage company, Nestlé will expand operations in Egypt by investing LE 450 million in 2011, an executive said at a conference Tuesday.

Nestlé will invest an additional LE 500 million over the next three years to expand existing factories as well as add new distribution centers, according to Fritz Van Dijk, executive vice president of Asia, Oceania, Africa and Middle East.

“This investment will allow the company to add 500 more jobs to its existing 3,000 workforce in Egypt,” said Van Dijk.

Currently in Egypt, Nestlé has two factories in Sixth of October and one water factory in Banha as well as three main warehouses and seven distribution centers.

“We have full confidence in the people and country of Egypt and their capabilities. It is the right time to make more investments here,” he added.

Van Dijk also pointed out that in the latest issue of the Economist, Egypt was classified as one of the “new emerging markets,” which he believes will only attract more investments to the country.

He attributes their long standing history in the country and their Popularly Positioned Products (PPP) business model to their success and growth.

The PPP model is an in-depth look on the needs of emerging consumers and products geared towards their desires. In Egypt’s population of about 80 million people, half of the market is made up of people under the age of 20 and also boasts an emerging middle-class and lower-middle class with growing purchasing power.

“We want to ensure our products translate to the people and are sustainable in nature as well as creating value for the society and the company; turning our vision into reality,” said Suresh Narayanan, region head of Nestlé North East African region.

The sourcing of local materials allows the company to keep their prices low, but is currently experiencing a short term challenge of commodity costs increasing with an imbalance in supply and demand.

Narayanan told Daily News Egypt that they experienced this in 2007 and 2008, but with the 30 to 40 percent increase in commodity costs, the company will have to absorb the increase.

The company utilizes 25 to 30 percent of their sales from Egypt to turnover and invest right back into the country.

On top of their investments in Egypt, Nestlé is also bringing various philanthropic programs. Their first was “Be at your best,” introduced two years ago in Egypt.

The nutritional awareness program targets mothers to increase their knowledge of the best food and beverage products for their kids and families. The program includes seminars as well as a call center to answer any nutritional inquiries.

“Healthy kids” is their second program that was introduced in late December 2010 and has already reached 50 schools in the Greater Cairo area. They have worked with 40,000 students in 1,000 classes to date in Egypt.

“The most important single voice comes from kids and if they are informed, awareness spreads,” said Petraea Heynike, Nestlé executive vice president of strategic business units, sales and marketing.

“These programs are in line with our mission of created shared value,” she added.

Heynike said they are hoping to reach 80,000 students in 100 schools this next year and have the program reach 500,000 students in its first five years in Egypt.

The company also plays a significant role in developing Kafr El-Arbein, the village next to the Nestlé water factory in Egypt. They have cleaned the canal, paved roads and replaced their bridge among other things.

Read the full article here.

Spanish bank BBVA recently wrote that if the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) were to invite a fifth member to their ranks, Egypt would be a worthy candidate for consideration.

The BRIC countries, who formed an alliance based on their similar stage of newly advanced economic development, recently invited South Africa to one of their summits. However, BBVA believes Egypt is a “far better candidate” for formal BRIC membership than South Africa.

Egypt is expected not only to grow faster than South Africa over the next 10 years, but to overtake it as Africa’s largest economy as soon as 2013.

Egypt is also currently the only African country in BBVA’s group of EAGLEs, or Emerging and Growth-Leading Economies. Egypt is expected to see its GDP grow by over six percent this year.

To read the full story, please click here.
 

Hassan, with the alleged assistance of two co-conspirators, Korashy Haggag, and Hendawy Said Mohammad, conspired to murder worshipers leaving the Naga Hammadi church, and killed six Christians and one Muslim police officer, and injured nine others.

In the aftermath of this crime President Mubarak said at the time “we will confront any sectarian crime…with the full force and determination of the law…and impose the maximum penalty against the perpetrators and inciters.”

Commenting on yesterday’s ruling, Bishop Kirollos of Menya Governorate said “We thank the Lord for this ruling, and we could not ask for more. I believe this ruling relives all Egyptians, Copts and Muslims, as this massacre shocked us all”. Bishop Kirollos added that “The judicial system in Egypt stands firmly against all criminals, and this verdict should be a lesson to anyone who tries to breach the peace and jeopardize the safety of our society.”

The court’s decision was adopted unanimously by the tribunal of the Emergency State Security Court which tried the case. Rulings of emergency courts are final, but persons convicted may appeal their decisions by petitioning the President of the Republic.

The sentence handed down by the courts was referred to the Grand Mufti of Egypt who, according to Egyptian law, must certify all death sentences handed down by the courts.

Rulings for the remaining two defendants have been postponed by the court to 20 February 2011.
 

Boutros Boutros-Ghali: No. Our ties are far too old to be destroyed. Copts and Muslims have lived together in Egypt for 14 centuries. There have always been highs and lows between the religious groups, but never collective hate toward one another. I'm actually far more inclined to believe that the massacre in Alexandria will strengthen our bonds.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Do you honestly not see any religious tensions in Egypt?

Boutros-Ghali: There is fear and anger, but they are not directed toward Islam or Christianity. On the contrary, all over Egypt, Copts and Muslims have held joint demonstrations against terrorism. It reminds me of the massive demonstrations in the early 20th century, when Egyptians took to the streets together -- under the banner of both the cross and the crescent moon -- to protest the British occupation.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Many view this attack as merely the most dramatic event to date in a new wave of persecution of Middle Eastern Christians.

Boutros-Ghali: That might be true for other countries, but not for Egypt. The Middle East is a powder keg, with very different groups fighting each other. It stopped being about just Christians and Muslims long ago. In Iraq, Sunnis attack Shiites, setting houses on fire and blowing up mosques. But Egypt is different. Here, these two major ethnic groups are far too deeply rooted in our country and connected to its history. Egypt will never experience a civil war.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: The Egyptian government -- and even the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood -- suspect that foreign terrorists were behind the attack. What do you think?

Boutros-Ghali: We don't know if these were foreign or Egyptian terrorists. Either way, it poses a great danger for Egypt. If the perpetrators were Egyptians, it means that a part of the national Islamist scene has radicalized again. But it could just as easily be that foreign jihadists have set their sights on our country. In any case, this act was aimed not only at Copts, but also at the Egyptian government. If we now start talking about a religious conflict, the terrorists will have achieved their goal.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: What exactly do you mean by that?

Boutros-Ghali: The attack in Alexandria was meant to foment unrest; it was meant to destabilize Egypt. If the entire world starts talking about a conflict between Copts and Muslims, it will divide our country. Egypt's image has already suffered serious damage; and if tourists and foreign direct investment stop coming, the terrorists will be laughing up their sleeves. Let's also not forget that an attack in this country is not the same as a suicide attack in Pakistan, Somalia or Iraq, which the global community has almost gotten used to. But when a bomb goes off in Egypt, a country that is still relatively stable, the world is scared.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: But is Egypt really that stable? It's hard to overlook the fact that things have been brewing in Egyptian society for years and that Islamization keeps on advancing.

Boutros-Ghali: That primarily has to do with demographic developments. Egypt's economy isn't growing as rapidly as the population -- which results in poverty, polarization and frustration. The rich Arab Gulf states have stepped in to fill these gaps, not only by donating money, but also by exporting their very own fundamentalist version of Islam. In this way, they've already changed large parts of the Muslim world.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: If the same happens in Egypt, it can't be good news for the Copts.

Boutros-Ghali: No, of course not. If the government doesn't do something to prevent it, discrimination against Copts -- which has always existed to some degree -- is likely to increase again. The government needs to guarantee truly equal opportunity. It needs to see to it that religious prejudices are removed from schoolbooks and that no religious groups face discrimination in building houses of worship. But it also needs to curb the politicization of Islam, which poses a threat to Christians in Egypt.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: For the Muslim Brotherhood, the largest opposition movement, solving problems is very simple. As far as it is concerned: "The solution is Islam."

Boutros-Ghali: No, Islam is a private matter. For that reason alone -- and since 10 percent of Egyptians aren't Muslims -- it can't be the solution to every political problem. What we need is a law that provides true equality to Muslims, Christians and all other religious groups, such as the Bahais. Merely the fact that the Muslim Brotherhood would classify all non-Muslims as second-class citizens means it doesn't offer a credible, democratic alternative. The Muslim Brotherhood will never participate in creating a truly democratic society. It simply can't.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: What words of advice do you have for those of us in the West? What is your message for Europe, for Germany? How should we react to the massacre in Alexandria?

Boutros-Ghali: The most important thing is that Europe shouldn't conjure up a religious war in Egypt. Instead, it should concentrate on gaining a detailed understanding of what's really going wrong in our country. What we need are plans for addressing poverty, overpopulation and underdevelopment. What we don't need are well-meant but ultimately counterproductive words that only serve to divide our society.

Investors are likely to pour more funds into Egypt in 2011 as a strengthening economy and attractive yields outweigh a fragile social backdrop and uncertainty ahead of a presidential election.

Egypt's main stock index rose 20 percent in the past six months even as soaring food prices hit the poor, sectarian tension grew and the country held parliamentary elections marred by accusations of fraud and bullying.

A church bombing in the northern city of Alexandria killed 23 people at New Year and sparked angry protests by Egyptian Christians demanding more protection from Islamist extremists.

Egypt's benchmark index wavered in the days after the attack before rallying to an eight-month high on January 5.

Explaining that strength, analysts point to accelerating economic growth and a broader shift to emerging market risk prompted by quantitative easing in the United States and lingering uncertainty over economic recovery in developed nations.

That also seems to override uncertainty over whether President Hosni Mubarak, 82, will run for a sixth term in office in September. He has no deputy or obvious successor.

"We do not believe that either the run-up to the presidential elections or any overhang from the parliamentary elections will impact economic policy -- focusing on supporting growth," said EFG-Hermes in a research report.

The investment bank gave Egypt an "overweight" rating, saying domestic demand should continue to strengthen this year due to faster credit growth and rising investment.

Election rules and the opposition's weakness make it virtually impossible for anyone but the ruling National Democratic Party's (NDP) candidate to win in September.

Mubarak has not said if he will run for another term that would take him to 89, but ruling party officials say he is their natural candidate. Mubarak has no clear successor and has denied talk that his son Gamal is being groomed for power.

His three decades in office have fostered a stable business environment but the strength in a system that revolves around one man is viewed by some as a weakness as post-colonial Egypt has no precedent of a voluntary handover of power.

"Uncertainty over the succession is a source of real concern for overseas investors," said HSBC Economist Simon Williams. "But while this will ensure they stay cautious, I think Egypt's economic fundamentals are too good, and the yield on offer is too high, to push them away from the trade."

Read the full article here.

This incident let to the death of Fathy Saeed Obed (71), and the wounding of his wife Emily Hanna Tadla (61), both residents of Cairo. In addition, Sabah Sinout Suliman (52), Marian Nabil Zaki (29), Ihab Ashraf Kamal (26), all residents of the El-Menya, were also wounded.

The assailant was captured at his home located in the district of Samalout. Investigations into the circumstances of the incident are ongoing, and the district prosecutor has been notified.

Cairo - President Hosny Mubarak on Tuesday awarded prominent Egyptain heart transplant surgeon Magdi Yacoub the Nile Medal, Egypt's top honour.

Yacoub, a pioneer in the field of heart surgery, is believed to have performed more transplants than any other surgeon.

In 1980, he performed surgery on Europe's longest surviving heart transplant recipient, Derrick Morris, who died in 2005.

The 75-year-old surgeon recently established the charitable Chain of Hope association to provide cardiac treatment for the poor in Arab states. It was followed by a heart treatment centre in Egypt's underdeveloped southern city of Aswan to treat the poor for free.

Read the full article here.

Responding to the Christian community’s fears of continued violence following the tragic bombing of an Alexandria church on New Year’s Day, Egypt’s Muslim community held candlelight vigils outside of Coptic churches last Thursday during Christmas Eve celebrations, offering themselves as “human shields” against the threat of Islamic terrorists.

As the Ministry of Interior increased security measures on the eve of the Coptic holiday, deploying 70,000 police officers, thousands of armored vehicles, metal detectors and bomb-sniffing dogs to churches across the country, thousands of Muslim Egyptians rallied to support for their Christian brethren.

President Mubarak’s sons and Egyptian movie stars were among those who attended vigils in Cairo after prominent Islamic leaders and celebrities called for a massive show of support by Egypt’s Muslims in order to send a message that the nation will not stand for extremist violence and persecution.

“We either live together, or we die together,” was the slogan of the night.

“This is not about us and them,” said Dalia Mustafa, a student who attended a Cairo Christmas Eve mass. “We are one. This was an attack on Egypt as a whole, and I am standing with the Copts because the only way things will change in this country is if we come together.”

To read the full story, please click here.

 

The U.S. Department of State’s next Global Entrepreneurship Program (GEP) delegation will be to Cairo, Egypt, from January 9 to 12, 2011. In coordination with the Egyptian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), the U.S. Department of State is sending 13 prominent U.S. investors and entrepreneurs–along with several U.S. government employees – to meet with Egyptian innovators, to learn about business opportunities, and to foster partnerships in support of entrepreneurship in Egypt.

“The Middle East and North Africa region is poised to become one of the next global centers of entrepreneurship, and Egypt is a central focal point of entrepreneurial activity in the region,” said the U.S. State Department’s Senior Advisor for Global Entrepreneurship, Steven Koltai, explaining the impetus for the delegation’s trip. “That’s why the U.S. chose Egypt as the first country for the GEP’s launch. Regional investments in economic reform and human and capital infrastructure in Egypt provide a strong foundation for entrepreneurs and investors, both local and international.”

The U.S. delegation will be hosted by representatives from Egyptian government, business, industry, and academia, including MCIT, Cairo’s Smart Village, Nile University, the US-Egypt Business Forum, the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt, and the American University in Cairo. The Lead Private Sector Partner for the Egypt Delegation and organizer for many of the events in Cairo is Sawari Ventures, LLC.

The delegates will begin their trip on January 9 with a visit to Smart Village to learn about Egyptian and multinational technology companies and the general ecosystem in Egypt for technology, entrepreneurship, and venture investment. On January 10, Google Egypt will host the delegation for a working lunch and presentation on the MENA Digital Landscape, and on January 11, Nile University will provide a presentation entitled, “Research and Innovation in Egypt: Powering the Next Generation of Entrepreneurs.” The delegation will also be received by Dr. Ahmed Nazif, Prime Minister of Egypt. Between these events, there will be spaces for private meetings with Egyptian start-ups. On January 12, at an event hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt, the American University in Cairo, and Sawari Ventures, the delegates will award a cash prize for the winning concept for a new Egyptian startup business.

U.S. and foreign investors are already actively engaged in the Egyptian market, and more are looking to join. The GEP’s role is to catalyze, consult, and coordinate with partners (including government ministries, non-governmental organizations, universities, professional associations, foundations and businesses) in support of the burgeoning trend of business start-ups and social innovation in Egypt. The GEP brings U.S. and local partners together to work around six main activities related to supporting entrepreneurship in Egypt: 1) identifying opportunities, 2) training aspiring entrepreneurs, 3) connecting and sustaining them, 4) assisting with access to funding, 5) enabling policy decisions, and 6) celebrating entrepreneurial successes in Egypt.
 

Ambassador Shoukry expressed the solidarity of Egypt’s citizens with their brethren abroad, both Copts and Muslims. He also emphasized the unassailability of Egyptians’ unity and cohesion, irrespective of their different religious beliefs. Ambassador Shoukry reiterated the Egyptian government’s resolute commitment to pursue and prosecute the perpetrators of this crime, and informed the Bishop of the measures taken to investigate the attack, provide security for the churches and console the families of the victims.

Finally, Ambassador Shoukry stated the entire staff of Egypt’s Embassy stand in solidarity with Egypt’s Coptic community in the U.S. during these trying times, and his wishes that the new year endow all Egyptians with the fortitude and unity to overcome the effects of this terrible crime perpetrated against Egypt and its people
 

By Dr. Ali Gomaa, the Grand Mufti of Egypt

A statement in response to the apparent suicide bombing against worshippers leaving a New Year's Mass at a church that killed at least 21 people.

On behalf of the members and Executive of the C-1 World Dialogue we condemn the horrifying attack in Alexandria outside a Coptic Church and a nearby Mosque killing so many Christians as well as Muslims.

Christians and Muslims are as one in knowing that such an act is contrary to the law of God and can have no possible justification. Our prayers and thoughts go out to all who have been affected and especially to the families of all those killed or wounded. We pray too for those so blinded by fear and hatred as to be involved in committing such crimes and call them to repent.

This act of terrorism was an affront to all Egyptians. It must not be used to sow discord in a country where Christians and Muslims have lived together in peace for centuries. It is vital for the peace of the region and wider world that the place of religious minorities and their full participation in society should continue to be fully protected and assured.

We call upon all Christians, Muslims and people of good will to reach out in their local communities, churches and mosques and to come together in practical solidarity against violence and all those who use it to promote strife and discord.

We are all called as human beings to follow the two great commandments of which the Common Word letter reminds us, namely to love God and our neighbor and we urge everyone to come together in fulfillment of them.

A preliminary forensic investigation by the Ministry of Interior indicates that the attack was an act of a suicide bomber, who was likely killed in the explosion, and not a car bomb as has been initially reported. The explosive device contained nails and ball bearings to maximize casualties. A Ministry of Interior report stated that the method of the attack suggests the involvement of foreign elements, and noted that Al-Qaeda had issued threats against Egypt.

The Ministry of Interior also reported that the four members of the security details assigned to the Church had been among the wounded.

The Prosecutor-General has begun a criminal investigation of this attack.

In a televised national address, President Mubarak expressed his condolences to the families of the victims, both Christians and Muslims, "whose blood was mingled on the ground today in Alexandria, proving that all of Egypt was targeted today." The President added that "their blood will not be in vain and we will strike the hand of the terrorism that threatens us." The President expressed his determination to bring the perpetrators to justice, stating that "we won our war with terrorism in the Nineties and those who believe that they can escape the punishment of the Egyptian people are sorely mistaken." The President stated that "we will track down those who planned and committed this crime, and we will capture those among us who collaborated with them."

The president stated that this "terrorist attack bears the mark of foreign elements." He added that terrorism continued to threaten Egypt, but that the "forces of terrorism will not succeed in their plots, and they will fail to undermine the stability and security of Egypt or the unity of its people, both Muslims and Christians."

The President stated that this act was a part of a series of attempts to create conflict between Christians and Muslims, but Almighty God showed us that we stand together.

The Office of the President stated that he is personally monitoring the investigation and response to this heinous crime, and has issued a number of directives ordering an intense and swift investigation into this crime and its perpetrator, and called on the Egyptian people to stand together against terrorism.

Egyptian Prime Minister Dr. Ahmed Nazif also condemned this attack, stating that the Egyptian people understand that there are attempts to undermine their unity and that they reject terrorism in all forms. Dr. Nazif has ordered the Minister of Health to personally monitor the medical care being provided to the wounded on the ground in Alexandria, and noted that a number of wounded has been airlifted to Cairo. The Prime Minister also ordered local authorities in Alexandria to provide all possible assistance to the victims and their families.

The Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar, the preeminent seat of Islamic scholarship in the Muslim world, Dr. Ahmed El-Tayib called the attack a "heinous crime" and stated that this was an attack against all Egyptians, stressing that "to attack a church is to attack a mosque." In a related statement, the Mufti of the Republic Dr. Aly Goma stated that he "and all the Islamic jurists of Egypt condemn this criminal act targeting innocent Christians and Muslims, in attempt to sow sectarian discord in the nation."

The foreign minister expressed his desire that Cairo should reach an accord with Baghdad regarding hundreds of millions of dollars of debt dating back to the Saddam Hussein era, stating that, “We have indications that there is confirmed intention (by Iraq) to resolve this issue, and we hope to reach a quick settlement.”

Aboul Gheit also spoke with his Iraqi counterparts about the Arab League Summit scheduled to take place in Baghdad in March 2011. "Egypt shall have an active participation in the Arab summit," he told reporters. The trip included meetings with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Massoud Barzani, president of the autonomous Kurdish region of Iraq.

Hollywood sweethearts Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher have reportedly gone off to the Land of Pyramids to spend a romantic holiday. According to reports,they are presently in Egypt enjoying a leisure trip. Well, it was not a holiday without work for the couple though! The actors had been invited to Egypt to lend their names and take part in a charity event.

Read the full article here.

Though hydropower is traditionally the nation's most prized renewable energy source, Egypt’s immense potential in wind and solar power propelled it to number 22 on the latest Renewable Energies Country Attractiveness Index (CAI).

The index, developed by professional services firm Ernst and Young, puts Egypt as the top destination in the Middle East for projected investments in renewable energy.

The ranking, which gives a weighted score for the untapped potential in 30 countries, gives more weight to long-term prospects over short term, and to wind over solar power. The international recognition coincides with large infrastructure investments in the sector, which seems to have a bright future here. By 2020, Egypt plans to generate 20 percent of energy production, or about 35 gigawatts, from renewable sources; 12 percent from wind power, and 8 percent from solar energy.

Shady Tarfa, of Ernst & Young’s Infrastructure and public-private partnerships advisory, says 20 percent is a realistic target. "Egypt has a great portfolio of renewable energy -- hydro, wind, and solar power. Coupled with the government's appetite to position Egypt as a leader in renewable energies, it is an achievable goal".

Egypt has huge wind power potential, particularly in the Gulf of Suez, but also along the Nile, and with an average of nine to 11 hours of sunshine each day, there is no shortage of solar energy. Egypt is not a new entrant to the market. It established the New and Renewable Energy Authority in 1986 to focus development of sustainable energy sources and implement energy conservation programs. The 20 percent renewable energy by 2020 plan was introduced in early 2008.

Initial progress was slow, but this summer’s power outages and dwindling fossil fuel supply have spurred implementation.
 

Read the full article here.

The fate of the fragile Middle East peace process was hanging by a thread as Arab diplomats converged on the Egyptian capital to deliberate what to do after Israel and the Palestinians threw up new obstacles.

U.S. peace envoy George Mitchell and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas held lengthy conversations with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in a bid to find a face-saving resolution to the crisis.

Senator Mitchell said he would continue to work for "substantive" talks and "attempt to make real progress", despite inherent disagreements. "Reaching this goal will not be easy by any means," he says, "The differences between the two sides are real and they are persistent, but the way to get there is by engaging in good faith with the full complexities of the core issues and by working to narrow the gaps between the two sides."

Trying to sound upbeat, the U.S. envoy indicated the opposing sides had agreed to continue working in September and he is still going by that premise.

"In their direct talks in September, both Israelis and Palestinians decided together to pursue a framework agreement that would establish the fundamental compromises on all permanent status issues and it would pave the way for a final peace treaty, That remains our goal," Mitchell said.

Palestinian Leader Mahmoud Abbas is visiting Cairo to seek guidance from the Arab League follow-up committee about if, when and how to proceed with peace talks, following Israel's renunciation of a new settlement freeze. The Palestinians were demanding a new Israeli freeze before engaging in direct talks.

University of Paris political science teacher Khattar Abou Diab believes the Palestinians and the Israelis are frustrated and that neither is offering much incentive to the other side to advance the situation.

He says that (Palestinian President Abbas) is in a bind and the Israelis are not giving any hopeful signs to move things forward, even if the settlement issue was just a pretext. On both sides, he insists, there are hopes and frustrations. He also criticizes President Obama for making the settlement freeze a condition for talks and says that we are now prisoners of that logic.

Abou Diab also points out the Palestinians are increasingly worried the ultimate goal of an independent Palestinian state is looking "more and more like a mirage." He urges the Israeli government to show "more political courage," to coax the Palestinians back to the table.

Egypt aims to double annual foreign investment to $15 billion within the next “couple of years” as it opens up its economy to private participation, Trade and Industry Minister Rachid Mohamed Rachid said.

“We know that this depends on many factors that we don’t control,” Rachid said in an interview in Cairo yesterday. “But there is one factor that we are trying to push more than anything else. We want to open up more sectors for investment; in that respect the private-public partnerships and the infrastructure projects are very critical.”

Egypt, which expects to see its GDP grow by 6 percent in 2011, plans to increase its annual infrastructure budget to $17.25 billion over the next five years, Finance Minister Youssef Boutros Ghali said earlier this week. The government is looking for “new funding channels” to back the spending program, which will feature public-private partnerships, he said.

To read the full article, please click here.

CAIRO - Egypt's finance minister said on Monday he expected the economy to grow by 7 percent in the financial year from July 2011, and by 8 to 8.5 percent the year after, up from 5.1 percent in the year ended June 30, 2010.

Finance Minister Youssef Boutros Ghali said the government's budget deficit goal for this year was 7.9 percent of gross domestic product, but that a deficit of 7.5 percent was likely. He said he expected a deficit of 6.5 percent in 2011-12.

"In our case, we have a budget deficit that came (in) under target," he said. "We have an economy that still managed (amid) all this turmoil to generate a growth rate last year of 5.2 percent. This year we will be 6 (percent), God willing."

"Next year we will cruise at 7 (percent), after that 8 to 8.5," Boutros Ghali told a conference.

Egypt lowered its GDP growth figure for the last fiscal year in October, to 5.1 percent from a previously stated 5.3 percent. The economy had grown by about 7 percent a year prior to the global financial crisis, above the 6 percent annual rate economists say Egypt must sustain to create jobs for its growing population.

Read the full article here.

Sixteen-year-old Kamal has come from Chaical village. Trauma from a motorcycle accident four years ago has left him with a wandering eye.

Six-month-old Meshgan almost died from malnutrition because his mother could not produce breast milk. He receives regular feedings here.

They were among the 20 or so Afghans who came to Bagram Air Field on Wednesday for free examinations, courtesy of the Egyptian Field Hospital. It would be a very slow day; the hospital usually sees 250 to 350 people per day, but the Egyptians are rotating teams, and had minimal staffing as they prepared to leave.

The hospital, operating out of the wooden B-huts that dot the entire base, offers surgery and outpatient care, with specialists in many disciplines, including dentistry, ophthalmology, gynecology and pediatrics.

One of four medical facilities on the massive air base in Parwan province north of Kabul, the Egyptian hospital is staffed by 14 doctors and 20 nurses who provide health care to Afghans as an instrument of “soft power,” a way to give locals tangible aid and, hopefully, win some of those hearts and minds sought in counterinsurgency strategy.

Dr. (Col.) Eham Karam Henein Morcos is the chief. According to Karam and the hospital’s commander, Col. Khaled Farghaly abd Elsamee, Egyptian medics have helped more than 600,000 Afghans on an outpatient basis since the hospital opened in July 2003. They have performed more than 2,600 operations on locals, with Khaled’s team doing 284.

Most come in suffering complications from malnutrition and anemia. Tuberculosis, hypertension and diabetes are common. And because much of it goes untreated, patients often arrive in distress, including some “in severe coma,” Karam said.

The same can happen when there is external injury.

“Sometimes, one month after [breaking a bone], they come,” he said, because the locals have no money, or no way to travel.

What the hospital provides is a largely Muslim face — some Egyptians, including Karam, are Christian — to a population that might resist treatment by a Westerner.

There are also Afghan interpreters, to handle the Dari-to-Arabic translations. Many are doctors who come every day from Kabul to translate and to learn from their Egyptian colleagues. The Afghan doctors sometimes assist with surgeries, but many are happy to have a coalition-provided salary, which some of the Egyptians speculated was more than they would make practicing medicine in Kabul.

Egypt is one of just three Arab countries — the others are the United Arab Emirates and Jordan — providing troops in Afghanistan, a fact not lost on some.

“United States has bases in Kuwait, in Qatar, in Bahrain,” complained a United Arab Emirates soldier at the compound. “Where are their soldiers?”

Afghans have come from all over the country to this hospital, the Egyptians said, but most are from the area.

They run a gantlet of Afghan, Egyptian and U.S. security to get on the base.

A small contingent of U.S. forces does eye scans and fingerprinting on each visitor coming in the small gate on the side of the Bagram village, home to about 1,000 Afghans.

They check the retina scan against the growing national database, and add those not in it. On this day, one man’s name was in the system as having had insurgent connections. He sat waiting for U.S. intelligence officials to come “have a chat,” a U.S. Air Force security policeman said.

There also are cultural hurdles for locals. Many have been reluctant to accept care, even from medical staff who are mostly Muslim.

Women in particular were slow in trusting, at first only wanting to deal with the female Egyptian nurses. But Karam says about 70 percent of the women who come in the gate now are willing to be treated by a male doctor.

Still, some are not.

Karam spoke of the heartbreak of dealing with a population plagued by fear and anchored in another culture.

“Sometimes,” he said, “the woman is told she needs C-section, or she die. She say, ‘I ask my husband,’ and we never see her again. What happens, we don’t know.”

CAIRO: “I think we have more opportunities than challenges [for the IT industry] in Egypt. …It’s exciting because the scalability and numbers are…massive,” said Wael Fakharany, regional manager of Google in the Middle East.

With 19 million students, 22 million internet users, 6 million mobile internet users and 61 million mobiles, he added, even a small percentage represents a wide scale information technology (IT) and intellectual property development base.

In an interview with Daily News Egypt, Fakharany said, “We have been quite vocal about our monetizing products but it’s time to talk to other segments of society, people who do research and development, work on IT innovations and develop intellectual property,” he said.

In line these plans, Google will host its first ‘”G-Egypt” event from Dec. 8-10, where executives will meet with computer science students, software developers, small businesses and tech entrepreneurs. Google will demonstrate its suite of products that are driving innovation in technology and business across the globe and here in the Middle East.

“I see a lot of hungry and striving young dynamic kids, whose talent just needs to be incubated,” Fakharany said.

“The objectives of these three days are to start a vibrant tech community and establish a connection between us and them. My dream is to have the next big thing in IT — Facebook, Twitter or something like that coming from this part of the world,” he added.

Day one of G-Egypt will target academia, discussing with professors and university students some of Google's most powerful technologies and coding languages for building online and mobile applications.

According to Fakharany, 30 Google engineers and product managers from all over the globe will share their knowledge and answer questions as well as discuss existing Google student outreach programs and opportunities that Egyptian students can harness.

http://www.thedailynewsegypt.com/it-a-telecom/google-engages-egypts-academia-tech-community.html

Today the Egyptian electorate cast their ballots in the run-off round of the 2010 People’s Assembly Election. A few minutes ago the polling stations closed, and counting committees will soon begin their work determining the final results for what will be the largest legislature in Egyptian history, both in terms of the number of elected members and the number of women represented.

The first round of the parliamentary elections took place on the 28th of November, and 5033 candidates participated. A total of 221 seats were won outright during this first round, and the voter turn-out was 35% of the over 40 million citizens registered, which left the remaining 283 seats to be decided today. These include 269 regular seats, and the 14 women’s seats.

In line with the requirements of the Law on the Exercise of Political Rights, the High Elections Commission supervised all aspects of the electoral process, and fulfilled all the legal requirements necessary for the proper functioning of the election process, with a goal of empowering voters. These measures included:

• The Commission exercised its constitutional authority by appointing the heads and members of the district electoral committees, including over 1500 judges. It also appointed the members and secretaries of the polling stations, as well as establishing suitable headquarters throughout the country for all of the above.
• To ensure the transparency of the election, the Commission accredited 6130 Egyptian civil society observers, and reauthorized their accreditation of the run-off round.
• The Commission also supported media coverage of events for the public by facilitating the participation of Egyptian journalists and ERTU broadcasters and accrediting private Egyptian satellite channels to cover polling stations and counting committees. The Commission also accredited 498 international media to cover the elections.

The Commission would like to report to the public a sample of the number of complaints it received over course the day and the measures it took to respond to them:

Candidate Representatives’ Access to Polls

• The Commission received a complaint from the District of “Matobus Wa Fawah” in Kafr El-Sheikh, where a candidate alleged that his representatives had been prevented from entering the polls. Upon investigation it was determined by the Judge-Chairman of the district electoral committee that residents of the district who supported his rival had prevented his representatives from accessing the polling stations at the Qabreet Primary School voting center. A police force was ordered to the area and the representatives were allowed to enter the center.
• The Commission received a complaint from the District of Abu Al-Matameer in El-Beheira from an NDP candidate who alleged that his representatives had not been allowed to enter the polling stations, while those of his independent competitors had been able to do so. Upon investigation it was determined that the complainant had attempted to have more than one representative assigned to each polling station which is a breach of electoral law.

Attempts to Compromise Ballot Boxes

• Police services arrested eight persons who were stuffing ballot boxes in the Madeeba Primary School voting center, and they were referred to the Prosecutor-General for questioning and legal action.
• Electoral officials of the polling stations in the village of Abu Galal in the District of Basandeelah reported that two candidate’s supporters had stuffed ballot boxes with forged ballots to the district electoral committee. Supporters of the candidate’s competitor learned of this forgery and stormed the polling stations, destroying a total of 14 ballot boxes. Police services intervened and arrested two persons. The case was referred to the Prosecutor-General.

Notwithstanding these irregularities, the integrity of the electoral process as a whole was not impacted. The Commission was able to swiftly and decisively intervene and resolve all reports and complaints it received over the course of the day in coordination with relevant authorities.

The counting process which has not yet begun will be characterized by accuracy and efficiency. Ballots from the polling stations will be tabulated by the counting committees which are overseen by justices in the presences of candidates and their representatives. The High Elections Commission will supervise all counting processes and will ensure that all challenges and complaints regarding the balloting process are dealt with.

The judge-chairmen of each district electoral committee will announce the results of the election in their districts as soon as the counting process is completed. The final certified results of the election will consequently be announced by the High Elections Commission within three days of the announcements of the district results ending.

Farouk noted that: “our organization has fielded 733 individual accredited observers, who have been operating in 19 out of Egypt’s 29 governorates…. we reported witnessing irregularities in approximately 200 ballot boxes, all of which the High Elections Commission investigated and consequently invalidated.”

Farouk stated that the organization had successfully obtained its observers’ permits from the Commission, in coordination with the Egyptian National Council for Human Rights (NCHR).

Farouk and his organization were also working in cooperation with Ayman Okeil, the second representative speaker, and his NGO ‘Maat for Peace, Development and Human Rights’.

Okeil, the Chairman of ‘Maat’, spoke about the organization’s activities before and during the elections to promote voter awareness amongst the Egyptian public.

In his feedback on the election process he stated that whilst he had certain reservations, in his professional opinion it’s normal for an election with this many candidates to experience these levels of irregularities. Okeil also noted that when such irregularities occurred, the High Elections Commission intervened appropriately to invalidate all corrupted boxes.

During the first round of voting the High Elections Commission invalidated about 1000 boxes, spread across approximately 44,000 stations – an indication, according to Okeil, that the frequency of such incidents was relatively small.

 

NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR HUMAN RIGHTS: DOMESTIC ELECTION MONITORING SUCCESSFUL

Cairo - Secretary General of the National Council for Human Rights (NCHR), Ambassdoar Mahmoud Karem, briefed the press today, stressing that the domestic election monitoring system has been successful

Karem hailed the High Elections Commission (HEC) Resolution 75 of 2010, which clarifies that accreditations for election observers in the first round of the elections are still valid for the run-off elections.

In light of recent reports of election observers being denying access to polling stations, Karem highlighted that 6130 permits have been issued for representatives of 76 civil society organizations (CSOs) to observe the ballot casting and vote counting. He added that out of 82 reports that the NCHR has received only 12 of them dealt with observers being denied access to the polling stations, a figure he therefore estimates at about 14% of all complaints. In cooperation with High Elections Commission, the NCHR has taken the necessary measures to resolve these issues and to help CSOs observers to access polling stations.

Karem stated that the NCHR releases an hourly report, in addition to a daily closing report, in an effort to monitor the course of the elections as closely as possible. The NCHR also held a conference on the 30th November to discuss its plans and to prepare for the course of the elections, and will be holding another conference next week.

Karem concluded that the 2010 People’s Assembly elections have been successfully observed by representatives of Egyptian CSOs, and that the NCHR is continuing its work to ensure their highest levels of participation in this process.

An estimated three million females are cut each year on the African continent (Sub-Saharan Africa, Egypt and Sudan). Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is becoming a global problem. Not only is FGM practised among communities in Africa and the Middle East, but with increased population movements and migration, it is also an issue in immigrant communities throughout the world.

But at the same time, never before has the global community had such a refined understanding of why FGM persists. Factors perpetuating the practice include a woman's status, chastity, health, beauty and family honour. Accordingly, Egypt has joined a campaign for a worldwide ban on FGM, aiming to promote the adoption of a resolution at the United Nations General Assembly banning this widespread and systematic human rights violation before the end of 2010.

On 24 November Egypt joined international human rights activists to appeal to the UN to pass a ban on FGM. Appeal signatories are asking that FGM be condemned and recognised as a violation of the human right to physical integrity. A UN ban would give new strength and impetus to the efforts that are still needed to end the practice worldwide.

Minister of State for Family and Population Mushira Khattab, who signed the appeal on behalf of Egypt, said the move was directed mainly at the 65th session of the General Assembly which will convene later this month. The global launch, according to Khattab, will provide a platform for the exchange of experiences and commitment in fighting FGM. It will also constitute the occasion for a major involvement of the international community to support the partnership strategy plan to end FGM in 2010, as part of the global effort to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

"I'm positive that in 20 years and perhaps earlier not a single newborn girl will be circumcised," Khattab said.

According to Khattab, "our work is to inform and raise awareness among member states, UN agencies and more widely among our fellow human rights activists about FGM and about the pivotal role that the UN General Assembly has in combating this human rights violation by banning it worldwide."

The overall number of countries which signed the appeal is 45 including the US, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Egypt, Iran, Lebanon, Iraq, Uganda, Benin, South Africa, Sudan, Italy, Sierra Leone, Togo and the Netherlands. The number of countries expected to sign is likely to double within the next few days.

The tradition of FGM is deeply entrenched in many national, regional and international societies. A plan to fight FGM implemented by the Ministry of State for Family and Population has gone into action across Egypt's governorates, with special emphasis on southern Egypt.

FGM operations are carried out in 26 African and Arab countries, among them Egypt, Sudan and Yemen, which exported a practice deemed to protect the honour of girls.

Neither Islam nor Christianity allows such a painful practice. Both religions honour females and preserve their human rights. Yet, 80 per cent of the poor and 30 per cent of wealthy Egyptian families subject their girls to FGM. The practice is considered by many people as necessary to tame a female's sexual desires and maintain her honour.

In 2005, Egypt witnessed the declaration of its first document rejecting female genital mutilation prevalent in villages, and which was adopted by the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood's (NCCM) national programme under the auspices of Mrs Suzanne Mubarak.

In 2007 the Health Ministry issued Decree 271 banning all doctors and nurses from carrying out any FGM operations at any ministry hospital or private clinic.

Abdel-Rahman Shahin, official spokesman at the Health Ministry, said the ministerial decree stipulates that whoever commits such a violation will be subject to having his/her private clinic shut down and possibly undergoing a professional investigation at the Egyptian Doctors Syndicate which could result in suspension from practicing medicine for up to five years.

FGM is an extremely traumatic operation which is practised on females between four and 14 years of age for cultural reasons. FGM, which usually results in urine retention, inflammation of the genitals, injury to adjacent tissues, septicemia and infertility, has multiple side-effects. These include shock, haemorrhage and infections which could be potentially fatal.

Khattab hopes the world would join the appeal to take all legal steps against anyone or any country which practises FGM.

"FGM violates human rights due to its serious health risks and life-threatening circumstances," Khattab added.

Resources

News

Press Release : Information Service Empowers Voters and Assists International Media November 24, 2010

Press Release: Parties’ Campaigns Covered Extensively on Public Television November 22, 2010

Press Release: High Elections Commission Adopts Resolutions on Campaigns, Civil Society Observers and Governorate Representatives October 25, 2010

Press Release: Parliamentary Election Called for 28th of November 2010 October 20, 2010

Press Release: Election Law Amended to Implement Women’s Quota October 20, 2010
 

 photo by Dakota Fine

On November 15, Ambassador and Mrs. Sameh Shoukry hosted Washington’s top philanthropists and the country’s top medical researchers at the Egyptian Embassy in partnership with the Children’s National Medical Center. The event was held to honor Children’s “Circle of Care” members who donate $10,000 or more a year to any of the participating hospitals.

Guests enjoyed not only the beautiful décor of the Egyptian Embassy, but also Mediterranean cuisine and Egyptian music. Following a welcome message by the Chairman of Children’s Hospital Foundation Board and Ambassador Sameh Shoukry, Children’s National physician Hemant Prashad Sharma, MD, associate chief of the Division of Allergy and Immunology and the Director of Food Allergy Program, gave a presentation on “New Frontiers in Understanding and Treating Food Allergies in Children.”

 photo by Dakota Fine

To read the original article, please click here.
 

The statement further dismissed the possibility that such threats may jeopardize Egyptians’ national unity or constitute real danger to their churches and monasteries. The Sheikh of al-Azhar went on to unequivocally state that such acts are in violation of Islamic law which has sought throughout its history to preserve human rights, reject criminal acts and forbid attacks against houses of worship.

Minister of Education Hany Helal stated that the government would end the police presence within a month of receiving instructions from the court, but that the campuses must not become a place for conflict. He said, “We will implement the verdict, but this implementation will also ensure security on campus to protect university buildings and students.” He stressed that no party, including the ruling National Democratic Party, could seek to recruit members or promote its views on university campuses.

The case was brought by a group of professors who were campaigning for greater university autonomy. The court decision has been positively received by human rights groups.
 

The World Bank’s recently released Doing Business 2010 Report says that Egypt is showing how commitment to economic reform can translate into real progress for its people.

The government is working on programs aimed at translating the county’s recent strong economic performance into improved living conditions for those below and around the poverty line, according to the report.

Government reforms have led to a friendlier investment climate, yielding a strong private sector response, and prompting the 2010 report to rank Egypt as a Top Economic Reformer. A favorable external environment and increased regional liquidity have further contributed to a strong economic performance.

Among the fastest growing sectors are construction, communications, tourism and traffic through the Suez Canal.

Beginning in 2004, the government of Egypt has embarked upon reforms to spur economic growth and cement economic sustainability. These reforms have centered on improving the business climate in trade and finance and enhancing basic infrastructure and public services such as education.

Trade Minister Rachid Mohamed Rachid said that the good investment atmosphere in Egypt has made it a major attraction for foreign investors to open long-term development projects.

Foreign investors’ willingness to set up long-term production projects in Egypt demonstrates the international community’s confidence in the Egyptian economy as one of the world’s most important and safe emerging economies, Rachid said.

To read the original article, please click here.
 

For more information on the status of women in Egypt please visit the National Council for Women - www.ncwegypt.com

To read the Ambassador's full profile and view more pictures of the residence, please click here for a digital issue of this month's Washington Life.

Washington — A small group of Egyptian Americans is a making a big difference in the lives of people locally and globally.

Established in 2002, the Egyptian American Community Foundation (EACF) promotes charitable activities in Egypt and in America. Today, the New York–based foundation faces challenges shared by larger, more established organizations: locating funds and manpower.

Hossam Abdel-Maksoud, chairman of the Egyptian American Community Foundation, said the group of business leaders, doctors, engineers and financiers works to meet the needs of the community.

“All of us are busy people, but making time to try to meet the communities’ needs is important, and we are committed to serving out the organization’s mission,” he said.

Abdel-Maksoud, founder and chairman of Maksoud Pharm Inc., said most of EACF’s funding comes from its 13-member board.

“At a certain time, it becomes a challenge, especially when we are supporting more community-based programs here in the States and overseas,” he said. “It becomes a vital issue for us, how to continue with limited resources.”

Despite financial hurdles and limited manpower, EACF still manages to touch the lives of Americans and Egyptians through a variety of programs.

This past April, the group held a dinner fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity in Egypt that was attended by 150 guests. Yousry Makar, director of Habitat for Humanity Egypt, told attendees that EACF’s support builds homes for Egyptians.

“The money raised tonight will enable families in Egypt to live happier, healthier lives,” Makar said. “In March we completed our 10,000th house in Egypt, a milestone that would never have been possible without the generous contributions of our many Egyptian-American friends.”

The funds raised are specifically dedicated to building many residences in Egypt, which suffers from a crisis of quality, affordable housing.

More recently, EACF has decided to focus its activities closer to home. Abdel-Maksoud said EACF plans to create programs that will service recent Egyptian immigrants to America.

“As we grew, we saw the need to assist new immigrant families here in the States more than overseas,” Abdel-Maksoud said. “We are really starting to focus a little bit more on our community here in the States now.”

In July, EACF sponsored free eye exams and supplied up-to-date vaccination information at the annual Egyptian Festival in Jersey City, New Jersey. Dr. Amgad Ragab, an EACF board member involved with the health fair, said the festival served as community outreach.

“The festival was a great opportunity to celebrate our shared Egyptian culture, while also being responsible and forward-thinking about our personal health,” Ragab said. “Because of EACF’s contributions to this fun, family-oriented event, attendees left both happier and healthier.”

EACF earmarks contributions for five funds that serve foundation goals. The Mercy Fund helps support basic human needs while the Healthcare Services Fund promotes modern health-care initiatives.

In times of crisis, these funds aid people in America and overseas. After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, EACF donated to reconstruction projects in the New Orleans region. In response to the 2004 tsunami, the organization contributed to the Red Cross.

The Childhood Education Fund helps students by funding scholarship programs at the University of Texas, Columbia University and the Rahima Foundation of Northern California. Students interested in broadening American knowledge of the Middle East are eligible for the scholarships.

Efforts to deepen American understanding of Egypt are addressed by EACF’s Cultural Communications Fund. Most recently, EACF sponsored an Egyptian folklore troupe that performed in New York and in New Jersey. Abdel-Maksoud estimated that about 70 percent of the audiences at both shows were not Egyptian.

“With our sons and daughters growing up here I felt that I was obligated, as a citizen, to educate our friends, our community members and America at large that we are a culture with a history that is rich in love and peace and has a lot to give,” Abdel-Maksoud said.

EACF’s Capital Campaign Fund is crucial to its future, a future Abdel-Maksoud believes holds promise for the organization.

“I hope we will be there surviving with a stronger foundation, more involved in our community, improving their lives and helping them live their dream in the United States,” he said.

Georgia State University will help Egypt's Cairo University build schools of business and nursing at its new international campus.
The two universities have signed a cooperation agreement for work on programs at the new campus, which is scheduled to open in three years, Cairo University President Hossam Kamel told GlobalAtlanta on a recent visit to Georgia State.
The new campus will have about 5,000 students and will be located in The 6th of October City, a government-planned development near Cairo, Dr. Kamel said.
Georgia State's Robinson College of Business has worked with Cairo University since 1996, when the two schools launched a joint MBA program. The century-old Cairo University has 180,000 traditional students and another 70,000 enrolled in distance learning programs via the Internet and satellite feeds.
There is now an undergraduate business degree program at Cairo University, with Robinson faculty co-teaching half the courses. "It's a very successful program," said Dr. Kamel. "More than 200 students have joined the program over the last three years. Next year, the first students are going to graduate."
In the United States, higher education is more highly focused on team-based learning and research, said Dr. Kamel.
"We have been teaching in the classical ways, but this is changing," he said. "Through our relationship with Georgia State University, the way we are teaching is changing to include more team-based learning and problem solving. We are also changing our system into the credit-hour system. That transferability of the transcript is easier now than it was before."
 

The original article can be found here: http://www.globalatlanta.com/article/24281/

Preserving Cairo's cultural artefacts

Cairo's ever-growing satellite cities
 

While in Washington last week for the twice yearly International Monetary Fund and World Bank, Egypt’s Minister of Finance and Chairman of the International Monetary and Financial Committee, Dr. Youssef Boutros Ghali, advised the IMF that the only way to come to an agreement on reforms is to engage emerging market economies and “make sure everyone walks away feeling like a winner.”

Boutros Ghali emphasized that unless emerging markets feel their voices are heard inside the IMF, the Fund cannot be an effective forum for addressing tough global issues, including tensions over currency exchange rates.

“Let's agree on a package of measures where all of us, each of us, can find some winning element,” he said. Instead of tackling each issue separately, Boutros-Ghali said all the issues should be wrapped up into one package so that there will be room for give and take.

The IMF's 187 member countries struggled to come to an agreement last weekend on a series of reforms including a redistribution of IMF quota shares, which determine voting power of each member country, and the makeup of the IMF board, currently dominated by European countries. The impasse is now left to be broken by G20 leaders when they meet in Seoul in November. The IMF has pledged to finalize its reform plans by January.

Without changes that give emerging markets more influence, the IMF would become irrelevant, Boutros Ghali warned, because it is the only forum in which countries from around the globe can come together to work out their economic differences.

“(Emerging economies) won't hang around. They will just leave and go their own way, and when we need them to establish a framework, the IMF will be irrelevant because you have ignored the main drivers of the system.”

He stressed that the IMF had to be modernized and given the tools not only to spot crises in a more integrated world, but also the influence to tackle economic problems.

To read the original article, please click here.
 

The 90th Troop Command and the 120th Area Medical Support Company depart this week for Fort Lewis in Washington state for final training before deploying to the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt.

Col. Gail Lusty, the units' commander on the mission, said the troops will help primarily with medical and logistics services for the Multinational Force and Observers, a peacekeeping organization.

The troops will support efforts to remove mines planted during multiple wars on the peninsula since 1948. The peacekeeping force was established in 1981, two years after a treaty between Israel and Egypt negotiated with the help of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.

To read the original article, please click here.

In interviews with a series of Egyptians from different backgrounds, TIME highlights the challenges surrounding the peace between Israel and Egypt. While they value peace, Egyptians urge Israel to make good on its commitments to the Palestinian people and to achieve a lasting peace with the greater Arab world.

Amaal Hassan Kamel has not existed officially for most of her life. The 49-year-old housewife didn't receive a birth certificate or identity card until two months ago. Like millions of Egyptian women and children, she lived in the bureaucratic shadows, unable to apply for a decent job or to request travel documents.

"My parents were very poor, and they never cared about educating or registering me," she told The Times. The mother of 8-year-old triplets said she couldn't enroll them in school "because I did not have the documents needed for applying."

Kamel now has her documents and her children started school in September. She was one of about 3 million unregistered women and children in Egypt who were aided in a project run by the nation's Ministry of Family and Population and its National Council for Childhood and Motherhood. The program aims to raise awareness among undocumented citizens as a way to fight the country's persistent poverty.

Kamel wasn't spurred to act until "people from the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood came to us and talked to me about how essential it was to get my own birth certificate in order to secure my kids' education."

In Egypt, the blue-stamped identity cards are needed for most modern activities. Lack of them is most common among women and children in rural areas and shantytowns, where most women are illiterate housewives whose husbands either oppose or are not aware of their spouses' right to have their own identity cards.

Zena Spinelli, a communications consultant at the ministry of family, said that awareness was the first step in reversing the problem: "We started going to homes and talking to women and their husbands in rural areas and poor neighborhoods," Spinelli said, "about the importance of having official documents for themselves and for their children as well.

"Sometimes, it was not easy for poor people to understand the real need for being registered, and that was the toughest part, but the program is paying dividends after three years of hard work."

Implemented in seven districts across the country, the project has so far led to the issuing of 66,531 identity cards, 45,634 birth certificates and 16,842 documents for unregistered individuals.

The Egyptian Ministry of Economic Development, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), yesterday launched its latest Report on “Egypt’s progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals”.

Five years before the 2015 deadline, the Report shows that Egypt has made significant progress in the fields of poverty reduction, education, gender equality, and health.
The Report underlines that Egypt‘s success has been achieved despite the global financial crisis and a decrease in aid from donor countries.

Poverty

Egypt has already reached its 2015 target of halving the number of people living in extreme poverty (income less than $1.25 a day). This is the result of the Egyptian Government’s success in stimulating the economy and adopting pro-poor policies.

Egypt is also on track to reach its target of halving the proportion of people who suffer from hunger by 2015.

• National programmes targeting the poorest villages and the most-vulnerable households have resulted in a sharp decrease in the proportion of the population living in extreme poverty from almost 8.2% in 1990 to 3.4% currently (2008/2009).
• Real household consumption per capita grew at about 3% per annum in line with an annual growth rate of around 7%. This has been reflected in almost 3 percentage-point decline in the poverty incidence between 2005 and 2008.
• The percentage of children under five years of age who are under weight has significantly declined during the period 1992-2008 from 9.9% to 6.2% in 2005 and 6% in 2008. The long-term decline over the period 1992-2008 of almost 40% suggests that Egypt will meet the target by the year 2015, if relevant food subsidy programmes are expanded.

Education

A substantial increase in enrolment in primary education has already been achieved. Egypt is on track to achieve Universal Primary Education by 2015.

• The net enrolment ratio in primary education increased from 86% in 1990 to 96% in 2008/2009.
• Around 90% of children (6-12 years) were attending school in 2008 compared to 83% in 1995. The percentage of girls (6-12 years) attending school increased by 10 percentage points in the period 1995-2008.
The rate of illiteracy for the 15–24 age groups has also fallen and is now 15.1%: 12.1% for males and 18.2% for females.

Gender equality

Excellent progress is being made in eliminating the gender gap in education. Enrolment of girls in secondary education has already exceeded that of boys and the elimination of the gender gap in primary education is expected before 2015.

Egypt is also very close to closing the gender gap in literacy by 2015.

• The ratio of girls to boys in primary education increased from 81.3% in 1990/91 to 88% in 2000/01, 90.9% in 2002/03 and to 93% in 2007/08. Projections indicate that target of 100% will be reached by 2015.
• The ratio of girls to boys in secondary education increased rapidly from 77% in 1990/91 to 93% in 2000, to 104.3% in 2002/03 and to 110% in 2007/08. This means that the number of girls enrolled in general secondary education is higher than that for boys.
• The number of women who hold public office has significantly increased from 7.7 % in 1988 to 23.5% in 2003; to 24.1 % in 2008.

Health

Egypt has already made good progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals in the areas of child and infant mortality. Egypt has already achieved the goal for reducing child mortality and is likely to reduce infant mortality to the stated target by 2015.

• The Egyptian government has been running a successful extended immunisation programmes for children since 1990. The Egypt Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS) data indicated that immunisation coverage against all childhood illness has reached 92% with limited variation by region. This indicates a remarkable increase in measles coverage from 82% in 1992 EDHS to 98% in EDHS 2008.
• Egypt's achievement in reducing the maternal mortality ratio to almost 55 per 100.000 births in 2008 indicates that the 2015 goal is most likely to be achieved.
• Egypt has succeeded in rolling back malaria
• Tuberculosis is regressing

For the full report please see the links:

2010 MDGR_English_R5.pdf
www.undp.org.eg

When 70 graduating students at Al-Azhar university in Cairo, dressed in the traditional robes of Muslim religious scholars, mounted a stage to receive their English-language certificates, they were marking a first.

Al-Azhar is the oldest and most prestigious institution of Islamic learning in the Sunni Muslim world, but these students were the first to be proficient in English.

An English language centre at the Egyptian university, established with British support, offers tuition to students in all five departments of the Faculty of Islamic Studies. This forms the centrepiece of a partnership between Britain and Al-Azhar, aimed at bolstering the university’s international reach and reinforcing its moderate interpretation of Islam.

Al-Azhar has trained religious scholars for over 1,000 years and it continues to teach Imams, or religious leaders, from a host of African and Asian countries.

In recent decades, however, it has faced competition from stricter interpretations of Islam, notably the Salafi school of Saudi Arabia, which has gained ground across the Muslim world.

While Salafis focus on issues of worship and personal morality, their purist interpretation of Islam has provided the ideological underpinnings for extremist groups, including al-Qaeda.

“There has not been an ability for the most important institution in Sunni Islam [Al-Azhar] to communicate its vision of religion to an audience whose first language is not Arabic,” said Dominic Asquith, the British ambassador in Cairo.

He argued that helping Al-Azhar to project its message is “important for us in Europe, in the UK and important for us in Afghanistan. There is also a requirement to overcome the misconceptions between Muslim majority countries and non-Muslim majority countries.”

Read the full article here.

Egypt has been voted the “perfect holiday destination” by an association of travel writers.

The Pacific Area Travel Writers’ Association awarded the accolade to the African country for its “right mix of entertainment, leisure and business” that makes it an ideal destination for both business and personal trips.

With its year-round sunshine, wealth of historical and cultural attractions, and the rise of holiday resorts such as Taba Heights, Egypt has become a popular holiday destination for all types of travellers.

Egypt is fast growing a reputation as one of the best holiday destinations in the world, in terms of value for money and guaranteed sunshine all year round. If you fancy a winter getaway in the sun with plenty of things to see and do, then you can book a great value break to top quality Egyptian resorts such as Taba Heights with African Safari Club.

One of Britain’s market leaders in providing safari holidays to Kenya, African Safari Club have been dealing in African holidays and safaris for over 40 years. In recent years the company has expanded its holiday portfolio beyond its staple country of Kenya to include other African resorts, including Egyptian resorts such as Taba Heights, and Nile Cruises.

Holidays to Taba Heights with African Safari Club start from just £429 per person, which represents a saving of around 29 per cent on the original brochure price if you book your holiday online. This price includes return flights from London Gatwick airport, and seven nights at the all inclusive Three Corners El Wekala Hotel in Taba Heights, as well as all airport taxes and transfers.

For more information about African Safari Club and their range of Egypt holidays, including Nile Cruises visit the specialist Egypt Holidays page on the African safari Club website at http://www.africansafariclub.com/egypt/

Egypt hosted the second round of Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations Tuesday in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh following the initial direct talks held in Washington earlier this month.

This round of discussions included Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Ahead of the two-hour bilateral and multilateral meetings, Secretary Clinton and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak held a bilateral preparatory meeting.

President Abbas and Prime Minister Netanyahu “have agreed to begin first on working to achieve a framework agreement for permanent status. That work is now well under way," said United States Special Envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell, who was also present for the discussions.

Briefing the media after today’s talks, Mitchell said the goals remain a two-state solution, condemnation of violence and working toward security, and a resolution of all issues. The parties are aiming toward resolving all core issues within the next 12 months.

The talks will continue in Jerusalem on Wednesday. The two-day talks will be the last before the expiration of Israel’s settlement moratorium on September 26.

To read the original article, please click here.

CAIRO: The governorate of Ismailia in Egypt is making history with its Females for Families program.

The 2010 UNESCO Confucius Prize for Literacy was awarded to the province for the program based in the rural town of Abu-Ashur. This was the first award of its kind to be presented to a government agency in the fight against illiteracy.

The program targets families, with the belief that the family is the basic unit of society, and with the help of its partners and a group of girls from Abu-Ashur, the program has been successful thus far.

With a population of one million, the Ismailia governorate has an overall literacy rate of 78 percent, but hopes to raise it to 93 percent in five years.

Read the full article here.

PARIS, September 8, 2010—World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick today appointed Egyptian Investment Minister Mahmoud Mohieldin Managing Director of the World Bank Group.

“Mahmoud Mohieldin has proven himself a tireless reformer whose work on economic and financial reform helped Egypt weather the global financial crisis. An outstanding young leader, his first hand experience of development and of the World Bank -- both as Minister and as World Bank Governor -will serve us well as we undertake our own reform program and scale-up our client focus,” said Zoellick.

In his role as Managing Director, Mr. Mohieldin will oversee the offices leading the Bank’s Knowledge development including: Finance and Private Sector Development; Sustainable Development; Poverty Reduction and Economic Management; Human Development; and the World Bank Institute. Mr. Mohieldin has been a leading client of the Bank’s Arab World Initiative and he will continue to innovate and improve this work.

“I look forward to joining this dynamic institution in supporting the enhancement of sustainable and inclusive growth of developing economies. At this critical juncture, when instability and successive crises have afflicted world systems and economies, the importance of the World Bank’s mission and presence has become more apparent than ever before,” said Mohieldin. “The World Bank’s mission to eradicate poverty and promote social and gender justice, as well as pursue economic progress while enhancing capacities and empowering people, is one that I profoundly share.”

Mr. Mohieldin has served as the Egyptian Minister of Investment since 2004. As minister, he led a comprehensive structural and regulatory reform program to modernize and liberalize the Egyptian economy in three critical areas - leveraging private investment for growth and job creation; enhancing access to non-bank financial services; and implementing a successful asset management program of public enterprises.

“Mahmoud Mohieldin’s outstanding track-record of results in reform, modernization, and knowledge-generation make him supremely well-suited to this position,” said Zoellick.

Mohieldin has established a global reputation for effective and strategic management and built an outstanding record of results including: creating an effective single regulator for the non-bank financial sector; building a stock-market for small and medium sized enterprises; consolidating and liberalizing the insurance sector and enhancing its regulatory framework; and developing the mortgage finance market and launching Egypt’s first liquidity facility for mortgage refinance.

He is also responsible for creating the first Institute of Directors in the Arab World, and producing the first Arabic Code of Conduct for corporate governance and introducing guidelines for corporate social responsibility. As a result of his leadership, Egypt was named Top Reformer for four years in the Doing Business Report and was top regional recipient of foreign direct investment.

Mr. Mohieldin holds a Ph.D.in Economics from the University of Warwick, UK; a Masters in Social and Economic Policy Analysis from the University of York, UK; a Diploma of Quantitative Development Economics from the University of Warwick; and a B.Sc. in Economics from Cairo University.

Mr. Mohieldin will join the Bank on October 4, 2010.

At the relaunching of the talks in Washington on September 2, U.S. mediator George Mitchell said the coming round would be held on those dates in the region, without specifying an exact venue, and that the two sides would meet every two weeks.

"Egypt will host the second round of Palestinian-Israeli negotiations in Sharm el-Sheikh," Egypt's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said in a statement carried by the state news agency MENA.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will lead the negotiations with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton attending, Zaki added.

Clinton will be joined in the negotiations by Mitchell, a State Department official said, and after the talks in Sharm el-Sheikh she will visit Jerusalem where she will have a three-way meeting with Netanyahu and Abbas on Sept. 15.

Egypt, which in 1979 became the first Arab state to sign a peace treaty with Israel, has long played a mediation role but has often criticised Israel for settlement building. The talks are also backed by Jordan.

Arab foreign ministers are expected to endorse the direct talks at the Arab League's second annual meeting, scheduled to take place in Cairo on Sept. 13.

To read the original article, please click here.

A state project aiming to ease Egypt's housing shortage is on track to meet or exceed its goal of providing half a million homes by the end of next year, its chief official said on Wednesday.

The government is spending around 20 billion Egyptian pounds in direct and indirect subsidies on the National Housing Project, started as part of President Hosni Mubarak's 2005 election campaign, Mohamed Galal Sayed el-Ahl said.

The National Housing Project was finalizing the handover or had already delivered to customers a total of 303,000 housing units, Ahl told Reuters in an interview.

“We are in the process of building 215,000 units and, God willing, will finish them by the end of next year,” he said.

Egypt's real estate sector has come through the global economic downturn relatively well, mostly thanks to strong local demand from its burgeoning population and a cash economy insulated from international credit markets.

But the country's tiny mortgage market and a lack of low-income housing expertise among many of Egypt's biggest developers has made it hard for the private sector to profit from the pent-up demand among the country's many poor.

Through the National Housing Project, the government sells land at discounts to private companies such as Orascom Development Holding and Nasr City Housing on the condition they use it to build low-income housing.

“We'll receive 100,000 units from private companies this year,” Ahl said. “We will withdraw the land from those who don't finish by the end of the president's election program.”

The ministry is carrying out studies to see if the program should be renewed after next year, when a presidential election is due, Ahl said. Mubarak, 82, has not yet said whether he will seek a sixth six-year term in 2011.

To read the original article, please click here.

WASHINGTON – Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak appealed today to Barack Obama to remain fully engaged in the negotiations of the Peace Process that he has launched. President Mubarak met with President Barack Obama, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington, D.C. Afterwards, Egyptian Presidential Spokesperson Ambassador Soliman Awaad said that Mubarak hoped the talks would be successful, but urged the U.S. to help bridge the gaps in positions.

“It is not enough to offer a dinner or to give some speeches,” said Awaad. “It will take more than handshakes, smiles, and photo ops to make this long-awaited peace in the Middle East. What is really needed is for the United States to step in, remain committed, remain engaged,… and lend a helping hand to the two parties in order to help bridge the gaps in their positions, sort out their differences.” Ambassador Soliman Awaad continued, “And Egypt, President Mubarak said today, is willing, ready, able, and looking forward to play the same role. We have done it before.”

Awaad said that President Mubarak believes the Israeli leader is serious about wanting peace. Today was the sixth meeting between Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Mubarak since the Prime Minister took office a year and a half ago. “We believe Prime Minister Netanyahu is the kind of leader who can have a vision and he can take decisions in order to make it materialize,” said Awaad. “It is not the ability or inability of Prime Minister Netanyahu; it is rather the will or the lack of will of Prime Minister Netanyahu. We hope that the will is there. We are sure that the ability is there. We would like to see the peace process, launched and initiated by Egypt many years ago – more than 30 years ago – coming to a successful conclusion at long last.”

However, the presidential spokesperson warned that the success of peace talks was dependent on the moratorium on new Israeli settlements remaining in place. It is due to expire on September 26.

“Unless the moratorium is extended, all bets are off,” said Awaad. “Should Abu Mazen leave the negotiations in case the moratorium is not renewed, his position will be very well understood by Egypt and others.”

The presidential spokesperson encouraged further direct talks between Netanyahu and Abbas before September 26. In an op-ed published in the New York Times today, Mubarak offered to host future talks in Egypt.

During his meeting, President Mubarak briefed Obama on his contacts with the other parties, including the Palestinian leaders.

To view full coverage of today’s press conference, click here.

###

This material is distributed by Chlopak, Leonard, Schechter & Associates on behalf of the Egyptian Press and Information Office. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice.

Egyptian presidential spokesman Ambassador Soliman Awaad briefs media following a day of bilateral meetings at the White House on Wednesday, September 1st . Ambassador Soliman Awaad, recapped President Hosni Mubarak's views about the renewed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks hosted by President Obama this week. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas sit for direct negotiations on final status issues at the White House on September 2, 2010.

To view the remaining press conference footage, click here.

CONTACT:
Lindsay Mize
(202) 285-9005
info@modernegypt.info

*****MEDIA ADVISORY*****

EGYPTIAN PRESIDENTIAL SPOKESPERSON TO BRIEF PRESS ON
MIDDLE EAST PEACE TALKS

Washington – Following a day of bilateral meetings at the White House on Wednesday, September 1st , Ambassador Soliman Awaad, the spokesman for the Egyptian Presidency, will brief the media in English on President Hosni Mubarak’s views about the renewed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks hosted by President Obama this week. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will sit for direct negotiations on final status issues at the White House on Thursday, September 2.

Announcing the re-launched direct negotiations, Secretary Clinton noted that President Obama invited President Mubarak of Egypt because of his “critical role in this effort” and that his “continued leadership and commitment to peace will be essential to our success.”

Egypt has a long history of working towards a solution for peace between Israel and the Palestinian people. Recently, Egypt has worked to negotiate a two-state solution and has also tried to broker a durable cease-fire between Hamas and Israel.

For more information, visit www.modernegypt.info.

Middle East Peace Process Media Briefing
Ambassador Soliman Awaad, Official Spokesperson for the Presidency
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
5:15 PM
Chandelier Room, St. Regis Hotel
923 16th and K Streets NW
Washington, D.C.
RSVP: info@modernegypt.info

###

This material is distributed by Chlopak, Leonard, Schechter & Associates on behalf of the Egyptian Press and Information Office. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak urged Europe on Monday to throw its weight behind U.S.-led efforts to secure a peace agreement between Palestinians and Israelis.

Mubarak, whose country in 1979 became the first Arab state to strike a peace deal with Israel, discussed the matter with French President Nicolas Sarkozy before heading to Washington this week for the first direct negotiations in 20 months.

"The American administration needs strong backing from the European Union for the peace process to continue," he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are due to meet President Barack Obama on September 1, according to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and launch direct negotiations the following day.

Sarkozy said Europe planned to further promote the push for peace at a Euro-Mediterranean summit planned for November 20 in Barcelona, Spain, where key leaders from the Middle East would be present.

"After months of stalemate, a hope exists. This chance must be seized," Sarkozy said.

Read the full article here.

Israel and the Palestinians have agreed to resume direct negotiations for the first time in 20 months, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas have been invited to Washington on September 2 to start the talks.

They have agreed to place a one-year time limit on the direct negotiations.

Speaking at the State Department, Clinton said President Barack Obama had been encouraged by the leadership of Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas, and had invited them to Washington to "relaunch direct negotiations to resolve all final status issues, which we believe can be completed within one year".

"President Obama has invited President Mubarak of Egypt and King Abdullah of Jordan to attend, in view of their critical role in this effort. Their continued leadership and commitment to peace will be essential to our success," she added.

To read the original article, please click here.

CAIRO: Egypt recently allocated $1 billion to invest in broadband internet infrastructure, with the goal of boosting internet subscribers by 4 million come 2014, according to a Euromonitor International report issued in July.

The report, “Egypt broadband investment to fuel internet usage,” explains that “improved access to computers, especially amongst higher earners, has caused the number of broadband subscribers to increase more than tenfold from 2004 to 2009, rising from 141,100 to 1.5 million.”

Moreover, the report states, “Egypt's international internet bandwidth capacity has more than doubled over 2009-2010 from 48,073 MBps (megabytes per second) in February 2009 to 99,487 MBps as of January 2010.”

Yet opinions differ as to whether the government broadband infrastructure policy will have the desired effect.

“Broadband infrastructure needs to be upgraded, and the government’s plan will have a major impact,” Ahmed Ossama, managing director of internet service provider TE Data, told Daily News Egypt in a telephone interview.

Expanding broadband infrastructure, Ossama said, will inevitably increase the number of subscribers.

Read the full article here.

A statement from the U.S. Embassy in Cairo explains that a disease-resistant strain of wheat will be provided to Afghan farmers to improve their wheat production. The agreement represents an effort to combat Ug99 – a strain of a deadly wheat pathogen known as stem rust – which is capable of killing an entire crop of wheat within a few days. The wind-borne Ug99 fungus was first detected in Uganda in 1999 and has since spread to other countries in Africa and the Middle East.

The U.S. Agriculture Ministry, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, and international independent researchers, including agricultural researchers from Egypt, have worked together to develop new strains of wheat capable of resisting the pathogen.

Egypt was one of the first countries to develop and double the productivity of a strain of wheat that resists the Ug99 pathogen. Known as Misr1, the strain was first successfully grown in Afghanistan last year.

To read more, please click here.

An 18-year-old pentathlete will become the first woman from Egypt to serve as a flag bearer at an Olympic event.

Jihan El Midany will lead the Egyptian delegation into the opening ceremony of the Youth Olympics on Saturday.

If she wins a medal as expected in the pentathlon event that includes swimming, shooting, fencing and running, she would be the first woman from her country to do so at an Olympics.

El Midany says she hopes her prominent role will inspire girls across the Muslim world to take up sports.

The Youth Olympics, which runs through Aug. 26, features about 3,600 competitors aged 14 to 18 from 204 countries competing in the same 26 sports on the current Summer Olympics program.

To read the original story, please click here.

Moushira Khattab, Minister of State for Family and Population, announced that a draft law protecting the rights of the physically challenged has been approved by the cabinet, and is set to be reviewed by parliament.

The draft law was prepared by the ministerial committee, headed by Mofeed Shehab, the Minister of State for Legal Affairs and Parliamentary Councils.

According to Khattab, the law will fulfill the needs and demands of the physically challenged community, many of whom participated in its drafting. It also conforms to the International Convention on the Rights of the Disabled, ratified by Egypt.

To read the original article, please click here.

“It looks like trouble,” he said.

His deputy, Ahmed Fathy, concurred with a sigh, “I’m afraid we’re not going to see anything tonight.”

The two Egyptian physicists on Tuesday night had a delicate mission: They were charged with providing the scientific imprimatur to the start of the holiest time for Muslims worldwide, the lunar month of Ramadan. Egypt plays a major role in this ritual because it is the seat of Al Azhar, the world’s most prominent Sunni Muslim institution.

According to the Koran, Ramadan, a month of fasting and prayer, begins on the first night that the crescent moon is visible to the naked eye. For centuries, clerics and laymen jostled to spot the Ramadan moon first and often differed. An area with cloudy skies or a different longitude and latitude might declare Ramadan a day or even two later than the rest of the Islamic world.

Modern astronomy long ago took the mystery out of the lunar calendar, whose year lasts some 11 to 12 days less than the Gregorian year used by most non-Islamic countries.

Mr. Mahmoud, the president of Egypt’s National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics, publishes a hefty book of tables that lists the precise time and location that the Ramadan moon will appear in various cities throughout the Islamic world.

But science, it seems, can go only so far.

“We know it’s there, but Shariah requires us to see it with our eyes,” Mr. Mahmoud explained. The grand mufti, Egypt’s highest religious authority, awaits a report from Mr. Mahmoud’s team and from a secondary group of spotters organized by the Egyptian National Survey Authority.

The lunar month literally turns at the moment of conjunction, the astronomical term for the moment at which Sun, Earth and Moon lie on the same plane. This year, according to Mr. Mahmoud, conjunction occurred at 03:08 Greenwich Mean Time or 6:08 a.m. Cairo time. But the crescent moon will be visible only at sunset, and then for only a few minutes.

There is a narrow window of opportunity to lay eyes on the sliver of moon. In Cairo this year, the Ramadan crescent would be on the horizon for 11 minutes after sunset. In Tehran, by comparison, it would be on the horizon for just one minute, giving astronomers scant chance to spot it. Mauritania was in the best position for a sighting, with 20 minutes of Ramadan moon visibility.

Add to that atmospheric conditions — dust and smog in Cairo, humidity and haze along coastlines and in the sun-baked inland deserts — and you have the makings of confusion.

“We don’t expect to see it, but we must in order to follow the Shariah,” or Islamic law, Mr. Mahmoud said.

On Tuesday, Mr. Mahmoud and his deputy nervously assembled their staff at the Helwan observatory in the late afternoon. British colonialists built the observatory here in 1903, when the desert about 20 miles south of downtown Cairo afforded a clear view of the night sky.

As long as 50 years ago, Mr. Mahmoud said, smoke from the nearby brick factories and light pollution from Cairo had rendered the Helwan telescope useless for serious astronomy.

Now, he and Mr. Fathy organize scientific teams at locations across Egypt on the eve of Ramadan. Astronomers set up telescopes on the Mediterranean coast, near the Aswan Dam, in the Sinai, along the Nile, and in the desert west of Cairo.

“We hope that at least one of them will see the moon tonight,” Mr. Mahmoud said 30 minutes before sunset. Despite the nearly 100-degree temperatures, he was wearing a suit, and on it a lapel pin with the observatory logo.

The observatory’s principal telescope is too powerful for this sort of thing, so the staff lugged two reflective telescopes to the parking lot facing west. Below a sharp dun-colored bluff stretched the brick and cement factories of Helwan.

Mr. Fathy pointed the larger of the two telescopes, a white double-barreled apparatus about the size of a car axle, eight degrees south of the sun’s trajectory, toward the spot where he knew the Ramadan moon would be lurking.

Several families materialized. “We’re here to see the moon,” Tarek Ghazi, a factory supervisor, said brightly, his daughter and son in tow. He was wearing a loud pink plaid shirt. “I’ve never done this before,” he added.

“I want to see the crescent!” his 18-year-old daughter, Hiba, said.

It was 7:20 p.m., and the sun had sunk low enough to turn a dull orange. The correspondent for Al Jazeera carefully selected a position for his live shot that would feature the telescopes in the background and, he hoped, that anxiously awaited crescent moon above his right shoulder.

A thick gray miasma obscured the horizon. “You can’t even see the sun!” Mr. Mahmoud said.

A jetliner rumbled directly overhead, on the approach to Cairo International Airport, before it, too, entered the fog of pollution.

“It’s like a black cloud,” Mr. Fathy said.

At 7:36 p.m., Mr. Fathy was still peering into the telescope, but he was just going through the motions. “We’re not going to see anything here,” he said glumly. He clutched his cellphone. “Maybe the other teams will see something.”

A few of the sky watchers phoned in: nothing.

“What happens if none of you see it?” an onlooker asked.

“We will inform the mufti, and he will decide, from his point of view,” Mr. Mahmoud replied.

“We are only providing the scientific opinion,” Mr. Fathy added.

Another cellphone rang. “You didn’t see anything either?” Mr. Mahmoud shouted into his receiver, exasperation creeping into his voice.

He hung up.

“All negative,” he announced to the crowd that had swelled to a few dozen.

Mr. Ghazi, the factory supervisor who had brought his children to the hilltop, looked concerned. “Is it Ramadan then?” he asked his daughter.

“Yes, father,” she said.

Mr. Mahmoud made a few more phone calls. Apparently other teams — technically amateurs — reported a moon sighting in Abu Simbel, far south of Aswan, and in Sohag, in central Egypt.

“It is the mufti who will make the final announcement,” the observatory director said.

Beneath the plateau and to the north, in the city, the official Ramadan eve fete was under way, moon or no moon. In a vast banquet hall at Al Azhar, notables had assembled from the Islamic institution, the government, and the Dar al-Ifta, or House of Fatwa, which issues rulings on Islamic behavior.

There the grand mufti was waiting to certify the sighting of the moon and the commencement of the 30 days of Ramadan.

By the time Mr. Mahmoud had tabulated the results of his scientific observation teams, it was too late to make it to the celebration. Even though none of the astronomers had seen the crescent moon, the mufti already had declared Ramadan anyway on live television at 8:30 p.m.

To read the original article, please click here.

The Nilesat 201 will allow the hundreds of new media channels to be delivered to 40 million households in the region, adding to the existing 560 TV and 100 radio channels already available. Wide coverage is ensured as a result of uplink stations in Cairo, Dubai, Amman, Doha, Riyadh, and Beirut.

Anas El Fekky, Egyptian Minister of Media, said, “This new satellite offers a tremendous opportunity to increase the availability on broadcasting and communications services in Egypt. We Egyptians are already proud to have one of the most diverse and vibrant media landscapes in the region, with over 500 independent newspapers, magazines and journals in the printed press alone. The Nilesat 201 will help us to bring even more choice and quality of media to the Egyptian peopleThis step is important as it shows Egypt’s ability and desire to lead the entire region in media, as it does in other fields such as information technology, encompassing all new tools of globalization and communications. Egypt will continue to play a pioneer role to propel the region to greater heights of modernity.”

General Ahmed Anis, CEO of Nilesat, added: “Nilesat 201 will make a significant contribution to boosting the development of the dynamic broadcasting markets in the Middle East and North Africa.”

The Nilesat 201 is the third satellite to be owned by Nilesat and was developed in response to the huge demand and market growth of TV channels in the MENA region. The project cost around US$237m and the satellite has a design life of around 15 years.

The Nilesat 201 will be launched from Korou, French Guyana, by the Ariane space launcher and has been manufactured by French company Thales Alenia Space, forerunner in satellite systems.
 

Egypt signed a free trade agreement on Monday with Mercosur, which groups agricultural exporters Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay.

"We have $2.5 billion of trade between Egypt and the Mercosur. With the free trade agreement we can double, or triple that number easily in the next few years," Rachid Mohamed Rachid said in an interview.

Egypt imported $1 billion of Argentine goods in 2008, including soy beans, soy oil, corn and beef and sold goods worth $111 million to Argentina.

To read the original article, please click here.

The discussion was on Egypt’s commitment towards peace. Dr. Sadat, former First Lady of Egypt from 1970-1981, gave her perspective on peace in Egypt and the Middle East.

The lecture was followed by a traditional Egyptian luncheon featuring eggplant moussaka, chicken sharkaseya and baklava. The lunch honored Dr. Sadat and Mrs. Janis Berman, wife of Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.). Berman and the group of women in attendance hold get-togethers every few months to promote peace.

Women in attendance included: Debbie Dingell, wife of Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), Penny Thompson, wife of Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-Penn.), Susan Blumenthal, wife of Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Marie Therese Porter Royce, wife of Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.), Elizabeth Kucinich, wife of Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) and Esther Coopersmith, among others.

Egypt's gross domestic product (GDP) is likely to grow by at least 6.5 percent in the fiscal year that began on July 1, signalling the economy is back on track, the economic development minister said on Thursday.

The economy grew by 5.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009/10, up from 5.8 percent in the third quarter and 5.1 percent in the second quarter, according to government figures.

"If we are to see any indication from the growth rate, the second quarter is higher than the first, and the third is higher than the second. Then clearly we are getting back to normal," Osman Mohamed Osman said at a news conference.

"The economy will grow by 6.5 pct in 2010/11, if not more," he added.

Read the full article here.

Fifteen young American religious scholars and 14 teaching assistants from Al Azhar University - one of the oldest and most influential Islamic institutions in the world - spent two weeks together this month at Georgetown University in an attempt to bridge the divide between the Muslim world and the United States.

The potpourri of young religious scholars studied the legal foundations of American democracy and religious diversity in the U.S. and met with political figures, including White House advisor Valerie Jarrett and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), the first Muslim American elected to Congress.

"I met people that I love, and I consider them as my brother, my sister, my mother," said Ibrahim Elbaz, 30, from Mansoura, Egypt.

The American and Egyptian students spent eight to nine hours in class each day and lived together in Georgetown dorms. The Americans included members of the Jewish, Buddhist and Christian faiths.

At the end of the first week, the Americans joined the Egyptians in prayer, deepening the friendships, said Waltrina Middleton, 30, a recent graduate of Chicago Theological Seminary.

Read the full article here.

I had only known for two minutes the man in whose hands (and riding ability) I was entrusting my life. It didn't help that camerawoman Raja Razek kept whizzing past at up to 160 kilometers per hour on the back of another Harley; my heart skipped several beats as I watched her contort into frighteningly precarious positions to get the best camera angles.

We were in Sharm El Sheikh in south Sinai to cover Egypt's First International HOG (Harley Owners Group) rally for April's edition of Inside the Middle East.

Ahead of the 7 a.m. start time, the sight was surreal -- 167 Harley Davidsons, a classic American icon, chrome glinting in the rays of the Sinai sunrise. A slice of pure Americana in Egypt as 200 people prepared to cruise through the 461 kilometer route.

The excitement was palpable as everyone made final tweaks, tightening bolts and wiping down mudguards; all decked out in the finest biker gear -- the ubiquitous leather jacket, bandanas, studded boots, designer sunglasses and even some chaps.

The smell: a heady cocktail of leather, exhaust fumes and asphalt, topped off with strong doses of testosterone and adrenaline.

At first we couldn't get over how un-Middle Eastern the whole thing seemed. But this faded. We could see blue glass "evil eyes" on the handlebars (good luck charms). Flags from all over the region flapped in the hot wind; bikers came from Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, the UAE, and a handful of Europeans and Americans.

Then we hit the road, led by a full police escort.

To read the original article and view the picture slideshow, please click here.

"The president is in good health and has been given a clean bill of health by his doctors, following his recent gallbladder surgery in Germany," Information Minister Anas El Fekky said in a statement to Reuters.

"We obviously understand the interest in this issue given Egypt's geopolitical weight, and the president's role as a force for stability in the Middle East. However, the media reports published on the president's health are based on nothing more than rumor and speculation without any factual basis whatsoever, including a recent report citing anonymous intelligence sources."

http://af.reuters.com/article/egyptNews/idAFLDE66J1EJ20100720?sp=true

Last month marked the first anniversary of President Barack Obama's speech to the Muslim world in Cairo where he sought "a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world; one based upon mutual interest and mutual respect"

However, the hope that greeted President Obama's speech has turned into disappointment as people realized that turning promises into reality is not easy to achieve. While he should be congratulated on his efforts to change the discourse of US policy towards the Muslim world, it is clear that people expect more than simply statements from him.

It is vital to rekindle the new spirit that accompanied President Obama's speech and to discuss together how we can transform it into practical programs that bridge the concept of dialogue with real and affective partnership between East and West.

Read the full article here.

A farmer in northern Egypt says his cow has given birth to a two-headed calf that he calls a "divine miracle."

Sobhy el-Ganzoury said Saturday it took two hours and much pulling to deliver the rare calf. He said the difficult birth has weakened the calf's legs.

Read the article here.

The Egyptian Pavilion opened in May with the theme "Cairo, Mother of the World: A City that Keeps Reinventing Itself".    Inside the modern-looking black and white structure, visitors are treated to a series of artifacts and exhibits which highlight both the country's ancient past and the current role of Cairo as the center of the Arab world. 

The pavilion will be featured among the various national exhibits on July 23, which is also Egyptian National Day.

Eight important antiquities were transported to the site from Cairo, a rarity that is sure to delight dedicated Egyptologists and casual viewers alike.  The treasures on display include a statue of the pharaoh Amenhoteph IV, the father of Tutankhamun, and the Mask of Sheshonq II, another Egyptian king.

Films, music recordings, and other various objects are used to demonstrate the development of Cairo over the centuries.  Visitors may view exhibits on technological and economic progress in Egypt, as well as the vast changes which have occurred in Egyptian society since ancient times.

More information about the Egyptian Pavilion may be found on the official site for Shanghai Expo 2010:

en.expo2010.cn/c/en_gj_tpl_86.htm#gk

For more about "Chasing Mummies," please visit HISTORY.com

Egypt and Sudan are on a collision course with a number of African states who in May signed an agreement to alter historic Nile water sharing arrangements. Egypt and Sudan have both rejected the agreement.

"In continuation of Egypt's successful move towards Nile Basin states, especially Sudan, the Egyptian government has allocated over $300 million as a non-refundable grant to the South Sudan government," Water Resources and Irrigation Minister Mohamed Nasreddin Allam told Reuters.

Read the full article here.

In conjunction with Alexandria’s recent ban on smoking in government buildings and public spaces, the new tax hopes to curb smoking in the Arab world's most populous nation and help fund health and social service programs.

The increase, which took effect July 1, was approved in late May. The tax raises the price of cigarettes by as much as 40 percent, while a 100 percent duty is added to tobacco used in shisha, or water pipes.

Health Ministry officials say the new tax is expected to generate about $345 million in additional revenue.

World Lung Foundation regional spokesman Mohamed Ghamrawy says, “International experience has proven that when you increase (cigarette prices) by about 10 percent, it may help decrease the number of smokers by 7 percent.”

“We hope that it will help a lot of smokers start to quit.”

To read the original article, please click here.

For more information, please contact Anjali Reddy at 202-777-3508 or areddy@clsdc.com.

This material is distributed by Chlopak, Leonard, Schechter & Associates on behalf of
the Egyptian Press and Information Office. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice, Washington, DC.
 

Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif also held talks with Massoud Barzani, and stressed during his meeting with the Iraqi leader Egypt’s complete support for all political factions, as well as its commitment to a unified Iraqi government capable of achieving stability and development.

Within the context of supporting Iraq and the continuous collaboration between Egypt and Iraq, PM Nazif discussed Egypt’s efforts to increase trade and economic cooperation between the two countries, and especially noted the visit of an Egyptian delegation to Kurdistan in order to study possible environmental and development projects as well as investment opportunities. Egypt’s Minister of Investment Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin, who will be heading that delegation, also met with Barzani and confirmed that there were a number of Egyptian companies studying various investment opportunities in Kurdistan.
 

His goal is to help spark the Arab world’s own age of reason, though he acknowledges that there is a long way to go.

“We can defeat the forces of hate and confrontation and build through education, science and culture better understanding for our future,” he said at the opening ceremony of a recent conference at the library.

Mr. Serageldin has fashioned himself as the anti-Islamist, a self-declared “secularist when it comes to the civil state,” a calling that does not endear him to the conservative majority of this society. But he is comfortable in his role as the founding director of the library, the modern successor to the ancient library of Alexandria.

To read the original article, click here.

Dr. Hazem Abdelazim, CEO of Egypt's Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) received the award on behalf of Egypt during a glittering ceremony held at the Chateau Du Lac, Brussels.

More than 100 high-level executives and outsourcing professionals attended this inaugural ceremony, hosted by the European Outsourcing Association (EOA).

Commenting on this achievement, H.E. Dr. Tarek Kamel, Minister of Communications and Information Technology said: "This award recognizes the outstanding progress Egypt has made in the last year as a global outsourcing destination. The country's credibility is going from strength to strength amongst European companies and has put its mark on the map of favored global services locations. We recognize the increasing role that Egypt can play in the fast-paced global ICT industry and we are advancing steadily on the way to position the country as a hub for IT innovation and entrepreneurship."

The awards recognize the success of organizations in outsourcing projects and raise awareness of the importance of best practice in outsourcing.

Commenting on Egypt's success at the awards, Martyn Hart, EOA Chairman said: "Egypt stood out for its multilingual capabilities and developments made to its infrastructure. It has proven itself to be both a strong player for European outsourcers and a gateway to the Middle East and Africa."

Through the support of ITIDA and the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), Egypt has shown ongoing improvement in the ICT sector.

The results of these developments have been reflected through numerous reports, with Egypt most recently being ranked sixth most attractive offshoring destination worldwide and number one in EMEA according to the A.T. Kearney Global Services Location Index(TM).

The growing list of multinationals investing and expanding operations in Egypt, including Stream Global Services, Vodafone, EMC, Teleperformance, IBM, Microsoft, SQS, Oracle and Valeo, is further testament to the country's unwavering efforts to establish itself as the outsourcing destination of choice across Europe and beyond.
Notes to editors:

The Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) is a governmental entity affiliated to Egypt's Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.

It is responsible for growing and developing Egypt's position as a leading global outsourcing location by attracting foreign direct investment to the industry and maximizing the exports of IT services and applications.

Located in the heart of the modern business environment at Smart Village, the six hundred acre business park on the outskirts of Cairo, ITIDA is a self sustainable entity that drives the IT industry in Egypt and raises awareness among the Egyptian people of the benefits and use of ICT to advance socio-economic welfare of the whole community.

Source: Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA)

• Sustained effort
• That respects the authentic spirit of Arabic and Egyptian culture, and
• That responds to emerging needs and trends.
  
  The best way to accomplish these objectives is to rely on the entrepreneurial instincts of the Egyptian people and to offer some assistance to Egypt's entrepreneurial classes, not least to those who will take advantage of its vibrant ICT sector. And so, let me speak briefly of the U.S. initiatives and of the economic interactions of our two great countries.
  
  As President Obama has said many times, "Open trade creates jobs and improves the lives of all." When the he spoke at Cairo University last June, he emphasized the Administration's commitment to improving America's relationship with the Middle East. The President discussed his vision of promoting stronger partnerships between business leaders and social entrepreneurs in the United States, Muslim-majority countries, and Muslim communities around the world.
  Then, in April of this year, the White House hosted a Summit on Entrepreneurship, in which attendees from more than 50 countries and 5 continents discussed how to deepen ties between the U.S. and the Muslim world. At the Summit, Secretary Clinton announced that the Egyptian Global Entrepreneur Program - the result of months of collaboration between the U.S. and Egyptian governments and business communities - would be the first pilot Global Entrepreneur Program, or GEP, realizing the President's vision.
  
  This program, about which I will say more, is also a reflection of the leadership and entrepreneurial insights of our friend and colleague Lorraine Hariton and the staff of the Economics Bureau's Office of Commercial and Business Affairs. Entrepreneurs are the heart of all thriving economies. When innovators and entrepreneurs can relatively easily turn their ideas into businesses, we know that jobs and economic opportunity follow closely behind. Entrepreneurs are a powerful force for change. They improve the business climate in their own countries and champion necessary policy reforms. And they improve practices in global markets. In the United States, we have always relied upon entrepreneurs to be a primary engine of our economic growth. Firms less than five years old-many of which are considered small businesses-have accounted for nearly all increased employment in America's private sector over the last three decades.
  
  Similarly, commerce and industry necessarily have the central role in increasing employment opportunities and thus in helping people achieve a better life and ensuring future stability throughout the Middle East. Of course, currently in the U.S., as elsewhere in the world, we are just now emerging from the worst economic crisis any of us have ever seen. Too many people who want work still can't find it. To replace the jobs we have lost and to create new, better paying jobs, the Obama administration is taking steps to grow our economy. Central to these efforts is a renewed focus on expanding international trade.
  
  It's worth noting here that trade continues to be one of the most important aspects of U.S.-Egypt economic relations. The United States and Egypt are important trading partners. In 2009, the U.S.-Egypt trade volume reached $7.3 billion. The U.S. is also a large investor in Egypt. Our foreign direct investment reached nearly $9 billion in 2009. American-owned businesses alone have created 1,000,000 jobs in Egypt. They have created several times that many across the Arab world. And they have generated billions of dollars of economic activity.
  
  Egypt is well-known for its active and ambitious network of private sector, governmental, and civil society organizations devoted to strengthening and encouraging the entrepreneurial spirit in Egypt. As several of you may be aware, U.S. Embassy Cairo has developed a plan to enact the Global Entrepreneur Program in Egypt as one of the pilot countries for this new worldwide initiative. The GEP/Egypt plan outlines four components to focus our efforts which include: the Supporting Entrepreneurship in Egypt program, Partnerships with Entrepreneurship Associations & Key Actors, U.S. Government Programs Supporting Entrepreneurship, and Entrepreneurship Outreach Activities.
  The Supporting Entrepreneurship in Egypt program will bring in a senior level Lead Entrepreneur to head a small office to support and promote entrepreneurship, innovation, and business development in Egypt for micro, small, and medium sized enterprises. Additionally, Embassy Cairo's Entrepreneurship Working Group maintains a wide network of associations and organizations for partnering on entrepreneurship. These relationships will be maintained and cultivated to enhance our outreach and program activities for the highest possible impact.
  
  The broader U.S. Government also has a number of programs supporting entrepreneurship.
  
  USAID/Egypt has multiple activities that benefit entrepreneurs, including business development, marketing, access to finance, and facilitating business registration and licensing. The Smart Services Business Center is a commercial registry in Alexandria established through USAID support which introduced streamlined procedures that reduce the red tape that businesses encounter when obtaining business licenses. This one-stop shop has reduced the time required for business licensing from 365 to 3 to 4 days. Other governorates are planning emulate the SSBC model; I'm told that one has already been established in Cairo.
  
  Microfinance programs provide loans to entrepreneurs, with amounts ranging from very small ($250) for startups to approximately $12,000 for more established businesses. USAID directly supports microfinance in Upper Egypt and is working with other microfinance institutions on potential credit guarantees to enable them to access bank loans for additional lending capital.
  
  The Overseas Private Investment Corporation, the Commercial Law Development Program, and the Middle East Partnership Initiative are examples of other U.S. government programs which contribute to entrepreneurship capacity building in addition to USAID.
  
  I'm pleased to tell you that Embassy Cairo has already begun integrating entrepreneurship outreach into its broader public outreach programs. High-level visitors are briefed on the Entrepreneurship Summit before their substantive meetings and press appearances. Furthermore, non-entrepreneurship specific programming is being re- purposed to include entrepreneurial topics, including but not limited to recent alumni career development programs.
  
  Ambassador Scobey's team plans to make smart use of information technology and social networking tools to celebrate the successes of our entrepreneurship partnerships. Facebook, Twitter and the Embassy website will highlight successful examples of USG support for Egyptian entrepreneurship, especially in science and technology areas. As more successful examples of entrepreneurship supported by U.S. partnerships emerge, you can expect to see them profiled prominently on all of these social networking platforms.
  
  We recognize the importance of leveraging information technology to maximize our outreach and effectiveness. To help form our thinking along these lines, the Administration conducted listening sessions with more than 80 NGOs, technology companies and foundations. Out of this came the Kansas to Cairo concept, intended to catalyze and expand partnerships that enable young Americans to communicate with Muslims around the world using a variety of technologies. This will be accomplished through a two-tiered approach involving the expansion of existing online programs and the development of innovative trans- lingual online communications technologies. And here's another way we're leveraging technology:
  
  The State Department is finalizing a cooperative agreement with the Civilian Research and Development Foundation to create a Maghreb Digital Library, which would bring tens of thousands of science publications to hundreds of thousands of researchers and young scientists.
  
  Although these specific initiatives I have mentioned represent progress, the new beginning the President called for was not simply a checklist of initiatives mentioned in the speech; it reflected the President's and the Secretary's commitment to a new way of engaging with Muslim communities around the world. We are laying the foundation for a sustained effort, that respects the authentic spirit of Arabic and Egyptian culture, and that responds to emerging needs and trends.
  
  In closing, I thank you for your contributions to our common economic growth and prosperity.

END.

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“The South is associated with hospitality and warmth, which is a shared value structure in much of the Middle East,” he says in an interview. “They’re societies that put great value in terms of family and extended family. There’s a natural demeanor of receptiveness, of people being welcoming, being open. This is a common issue between Southerners and Middle Easterners.”

Shoukry, a career diplomat who was named Egypt’s ambassador in 2008, came to The Ballantyne Hotel & Lodge in April for a reception and dinner with the Middle East Council of the Carolinas. It was part of a two-day trip to Charlotte that took him to UNC Charlotte for a lively question-and-answer session with students and to a lunch hosted by the World Affairs Council of Charlotte.

In his appearances, he stressed the strong historic bonds between the U.S. and Middle East, and said that the reality of Egyptian life might contrast with American’s perceptions of the greater Middle East.

“It’s important for Americans to know that this generation in Egypt grew up admiring the U.S.,” he says. “It’s a very receptive society and one that harbors no ill feelings toward Americans, but it more likely to pamper them.”

Other stereotypes of the Middle East don’t apply to Egypt, he says: Unlike Palestine or Iraq, Egypt is safe. And the role of women in Egypt is “quite progressive.”

Misconceptions also cut the other way. When he’s home in Egypt, he says he tells his countrymen that America is different from what’s depicted on “Dallas” and “Desperate Housewives.” In Egypt, films, television and other media create a caricature of the U.S. as an uncaring, materialistic society with “liberal morals,” he says.
Shoukry has traveled throughout the U.S., though this was his first visit to Charlotte. He’s pleased, he says, that the region seems to have a growing contingent of Middle Easterners. It also has commercial ties to Egypt.

Shoukry, 58, has lived with one foot in Egypt and one in the rest of the world even before joining his country’s diplomatic corps in 1976. His father was a diplomat, too, with stints in Washington, D.C., and the Philippines. He learned to like the lifestyle and enjoys representing his country. At UNC Charlotte, he seemed at ease answering questions from students – typically with a smile and in great detail – on a wide range of topics, including Yemini extremism, Indian-Pakistani relations and nuclear disarmament.

But serving in Egypt’s top diplomatic post can make for long days. Some mornings, his colleagues in Cairo – either oblivious or indifferent to the six-hour time difference with Washington – call as early as 5 a.m. From then on, it’s often a series of meetings or speeches, as well as overseeing a diplomatic staff of about 250.

It’s sometimes difficult to attract the attention of the right policymakers in Washington, he says. And his assignment is open-ended. Unlike, say, negotiating a treaty, being the Egyptian ambassador to the U.S. has no natural point at which the job is finished. Each day brings new issues.

Typically, days end with a dinner. On an average week, he and his wife host two dinners and attend another three or four.

“It’s a challenge to keep off the weight,” he jokes.

To read the original article, please click here.
 

For more information, please contact Lindsay Mize at (202)777-3540 or lmize@clsdc.com.

This material is distributed by Chlopak, Leonard, Schechter & Associates on behalf of the Egyptian Press & Information Office. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice, Washington, DC.

A new generation of designers infusing traditional craftsmanship with modern design are marking Egypt out as a future style capital.

The Middle Eastern country has a long tradition of skilled craftsmen working in family-run furniture workshops.

But for decades their output has been characterized by a style known locally as "Louis Farouk," after the Egyptian king who popularized it during the 20th century.

An imitation of the ostentatious "Louis XV" style, named after the 18th century French king, which features elaborate decorations, heavily gilded, intricate carvings, and richly patterned fabrics.

Young Egyptian designers are now leaving behind the excesses of the past for something more restrained -- and much more hip.

Read the full article here.

"It's a big public health problem," says the University of Alexandria’s Dr. Hassan Salam, who is heading research supporting the change in policy. "Smoking in Egypt is very common, unfortunately. Out of every 10 men, four smoke and more and more women are smoking now.

In Alexandria, local authorities first plan to enforce the existing law that prohibits smoking in government buildings. Within two years, the ban will be extended to include cafes.

Egypt hopes smoking rates will decline and that Alexandria will serve as an example for the rest of the country.

The read the original article, please click here.

For more information, please contact Lindsay Mize at (202)777-3540 or lmize@clsdc.com.

This material is distributed by Chlopak, Leonard, Schechter & Associates on behalf of the Egyptian Press & Information Office. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice, Washington, DC.
 

It is indeed a pleasure to be here today among this distinguished gathering. Allow me first to express my deepest appreciation to the National Academy of Sciences for making today’s event possible.

We are gathered today to celebrate the first anniversary of President Obama’s Cairo Speech, in which he emphasized , among other things, the importance of science as a tool for the progress of societies, and building bridges of understanding and cooperation among nations.

The President’s perspective in this regard is one that we fully agree with, not only because sciences are the basic tool for development, but most importantly because of their role in developing the potential of the people and their capabilities.

In this context, Egypt has undertaken in 2006 an ambitious and comprehensive strategy to ensure that the promotion of science is given the adequate support and is provided with the necessary resources.
The main goals of the strategy could be summarized in the following:

1- By 2020 we should have had a 50% increase in the graduates from science fields.
2- Research related industries and their main institutions will be economically self-efficient and capable of better competing in a globalized environment.
3- Applied research in Egypt will be the main tool to develop our economy and society.

This strategy, which was prepared by the relevant governmental agencies in consultation with more than 300 scientists, has a working budget of billions of Egyptian Pounds. It has three main pillars which focus on modernizing the educational curricula, developing the capabilities of students and educators, and building the necessaryeducational infrastructure.

The strategy also aims at linking the development of scientific research and higher education through strengthening research capacity, improving the quality of scientific research, fostering innovation and promoting public understanding of science.

Hence, Egypt has established in the past few years a national agency for accreditation in order to boost the quality of research and teaching, and ensure their conformity with international standards. We have also created the Higher Council for Science and Technology (HCST), and the Science and Technological Development Fund (STDF), in order to modernize academic curricula and improve the research-related infrastructure.

In parallel, we have also established eleven new universities with a science focus, in addition to a distance learning university and four technical colleges. Egyptian research institutions are developing exchange and cooperation programs with agencies and Egyptian scientists overseas.

The government has worked on increasing the networking between the Egyptian universities and research centers with their American, European, and Asian counterparts. The government has also established strong partnerships with the private sector, civil society organizations, and international partners in order to maximize the output of the strategy.

Egypt is also working to increase the accessibility of the general public to information, as it subsidized the internet and it agreed with a number of local and international corporations to provide computers software and hardware at an affordable price. As a result, we have today more than 13 million internet users.

Furthermore, based on an agreement with a number of European and Asian governments in the context of the Egyptian decade of science, the past three years were designated as joint science years with EU member states, India and Japan. 2011 will be the first Egypt / U.S. science year, and this will mark a long history of scientific cooperation between Egypt and the United States, which is manifested through, but not limited to, our 1995 joint technological agreement, the scholarship programs, and the existing collaboration between Egyptian universities and their American counterparts.

Our plan has also an important regional component, as Egypt is investing in the technologic infrastructure of its African and Arab neighbors. It is also currently undergoing a project to link research centers of the African continent and MENA region with their Egyptian counterparts, and with other institutions all over the globe.

However, this does not mean we have passed the bottleneck, but rather that we are aware of the challenges in front of us and that we are not saving any effort to confront them. We believe that through our cooperation with our international partners, foremost among them the United States, we will successfully deal with the United States is greatly valued and is regarded as a true testament to the friendship of our peoples.

On this note, it gives me great pleasure to introduce one of the pioneers and symbols of the cooperation between Egypt and the United States, and a living proof of the potential and capabilities of the Egyptian people. He finished his undergraduate education in Egypt, as well as his BS and MS degrees in Chemistry, after which he came to the United States where he was awarded his PhD. He is the Linus Pauling Chair Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Physics at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). He is also the Director of the Physical Biology Center for Ultrafast Science and Technology at Caltech, and served as the Director of Caltech's Laboratory for Molecular Sciences. He is a member of the Egyptian Supreme Council on Science and Technology.

In 1999, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his pioneering developments in femtoscience. In that same year, he received Egypt's highest state honor, the Grand Collar of the Nile. Most recently, he became a member of President Barack Obama's Presidential Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

Other international awards include the Wolf Prize in Chemistry (1993) awarded to him by the Wolf Foundation, the Tolman Medal (1997), and the Robert A. Welch Award (1997).

He is married with four children.

It is my great pleasure and honor to introduce Dr. Ahmed Zweil.

On May 13, 2010, at a lavish dinner reception at the Egyptian Embassy, the Institute for Education (IFE) presented its 2010 IFE Leadership Award to Christopher Caine, President and CEO of Mercator XXI, in honor of Mr. Caine’s leadership in every IFE program.

Chris was honored one year after President Obama’s historic speech at Cairo University, to recognize the importance of economic and cultural partnerships for leaders from Egypt, the USA and the global community.

In addition to honoring Chris Caine, the evening provided the occasion to announce LearnServe Egypt – IFE’s first-ever LearnServe program in the Middle East. Funds raised from the dinner will enable students in the Washington, DC area to travel to Egypt, partner with Egyptian students, and help build the next generation of social and cultural entrepreneurs. IFE will partner with Mercator XXI to encourage and promote entrepreneurship, innovation, risk taking and leadership.

Finally, the evening brought together esteemed opinion leaders with Egyptian diplomats featuring a vibrant discussion on the topic of “Egypt and USA: Leading Through Economic and Cultural Partnerships.”

His Excellency Sameh Hassan Shoukry, Ambassador of Egypt, opened the evening by welcoming distinguished guests. IFE’s Founder and CEO, Coach Kathy Kemper, echoed Ambassador Shoukry’s sentiments and highlighted the role that initiatives like LearnServe Egypt will play in drawing the United States and Egypt closer together.

After an elegant, multi-course dinner, Coach Kemper introduced His Excellency Jan Matthysen, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium, and Samuel Palmisano, Chariman and CEO of IBM Corporation. Ambassador Matthysen and Chairman Palmisano presented Mr. Caine with the 2010 IFE Leadership Award as well as a prized replica of Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator’s famous globe.

Video of the event can be found at www.youtube.com/watch.
 

Egypt launched an exchange offering cash-starved smaller firms a new a way to raise capital as markets pick up, the bourse chief said.

Maged Shawky, chairman of the Egyptian Exchange, said the new Nilex platform for smaller companies, on which trading started on Thursday, also gave private equity firms a route to exit some of their investments.

Tumbling global markets and a 15 percent drop in Egypt's benchmark index .EGX30 since an April high have prompted some analysts to question the merit of launching a bourse for smaller firms now.

Shawky told Reuters Insider TV: "If we just waited to define when is the proper time to start a new project or to provide a new service for our economy, I think we would have done nothing for the last three years.

Read the full article here.

H.E. Sameh Shoukry, Ambassador of Egypt to the United States, Dr. Jehan Sadat, Mrs. Suzy Shoukry and Mrs. Janis Berman

Mrs. Janis Berman, Dr. Jehan Sadat and Mrs. Suzy Shoukry

On May 27, Mrs. Suzy Shoukry, wife of Egyptian Ambassador Sameh Shoukry, hosted a speech and discussion led by Dr. Jehan Sadat entitled, “Egypt: A Commitment towards Peace.” Dr. Sadat was the First Lady of Egypt from 1970-1981 which gave her a unique perspective on peace in Egypt and the Middle East. She is a world-renowned speaker and has been the recipient of national and international awards for public service and humanitarian efforts for women and children. Dr. Sadat has also received more than twenty honorary doctorate degrees from national and international colleges and universities.

Following the speech, the guests enjoyed a discussion and luncheon, held in honor of Dr. Jehan Sadat and Mrs. Janis Berman, the wife of Congressman Howard Berman (D-CA).

Humanitarian aid is entering the Gaza Strip after Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak ordered the opening of the Rafah border crossing with the Palestinian territory. But few Palestinians are able to take advantage of the chance to enter Egypt.

Moustafa Youssef needs help hauling his suitcase across the no-man's land between Egypt and Gaza. He has a long-standing heart condition, which normally is a liability. But in Youssef's case, he has medical permits letting him leave Gaza.

Seeking refuge from the blistering sun in the shadow of the crossing wall, he has nothing but praise for the country he has just entered.

He asks God to protect Egypt, saying that for Gazans "it is the only lung we have to breathe with." Without Egypt, he says, it is like living in a zoo - "We cannot move."
With the 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza under blockade, Egypt is a sporadic lifeline, with brief openings coming every month or so. But after Israel's raid on a flotilla trying to break the siege, Egypt, caught between its relations with Israel and the anger of other Arab nations, says Rafah would stay open indefinitely.

There are limits to who and what can pass - mainly people with medical emergencies and deliveries of humanitarian aid.

At the border, Red Crescent trucks stacked with blankets, food and medicine idle as aid workers wait for clearance to pass through.

Ordinary Palestinians returning home take the opportunity to bring in other goods. Ashraf el Najar is driving a pick-up truck loaded with an electric fan, a refrigerator and other household goods.

Najar says he accompanied a relative for medical treatment in Cairo. He bought the appliances on the way back, he says, because his house in Khoza'a, near Khan Younis, was demolished during the last Israeli attack on Gaza.

He is referring to Israel's war last year against Hamas militants. While Israel has deplored Hamas attacks on Israeli territory, Egypt also takes a dim view of the group, which runs the region along its border. The group's rise to power in 2007 prompted Egypt, which is wary of like-minded Islamists at home, to say it would only deal with the ousted Palestinian Authority on the border issue.

While the problem of the blockade continues to be debated at higher political levels, those most affected try their best to work around it.

A young mother stands with her five-year-old daughter here at the eastern edge of the Sinai, waiting to return to their home in Gaza. The little girl has a patch over one eye, evidence of a recent operation to correct a damaged nerve.

Her mother says help is not available in Gaza, so for a year she asked for permission to take her daughter to Jerusalem, but with no success. She too is grateful for Egypt's current opening of the border, but she says she wants it to be permanent. Her daughter needs to come back for follow-up treatment next month, and she says she worries that the border will be closed.
 

Like all of the other neighborhoods in Cairo, Garden City has a fascinating story to tell. Built more than 100 years ago to resemble a Parisian district, the hamlet on the Nile River known for its greenery and stately villas once was home to Cairo's local and foreign-born elites. As times changed, Garden City's influential class moved on and many of the grand villas fell into disrepair.

Today, the historic district's fortunes may be changing for the better. A joint U.S.-Egyptian initiative to restore one of Garden City's villas may foster a climate of local business growth while preserving the country's diverse historical heritage.

Garden City remains unique among Cairo's vibrant neighborhoods. With its curved streets and weathered villas, it boasts a number of current and former embassies, among them Villa Castagli. Built at the end of the 19th century, the villa housed the U.S. embassy from 1943 to 1947.

In 2006, Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities designated Villa Castagli as an antiquity site. In addition to its historical value, the villa is an architectural gem. Ornate masonry work adorns the villa's exterior, while the interior features European-style paintings and mosaics in a room of dark, carved wood paneling.

The U.S. Embassy in Cairo, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE)-- like its Egyptian hosts -- recognize the building's historical and architectural significance. ARCE is a nonprofit professional organization that supports research on all aspects of Egyptian history and culture.

After U.S. and local officials discussed the prospect of restoring the villa, the Egyptian government moved a girls' school out of the building in October 2008 to make way for restoration.

Both parties involved in the project believe restoring the villa may have a positive effect on the neighborhood. It is hoped that members of the local and international community follow the U.S-Egyptian lead and begin other villa restorations. As Garden City's buildings are restored, tourism and more business could return to the area.

Restoration work on Villa Castagli needs to begin soon. With the villa deteriorating from exposure to the elements, the longer it is neglected the higher the costs will be for its repair.

But before work can begin, the U.S. government is playing a pivotal role by funding a study to assess the best ways to restore and preserve the villa.

Funded by the U.S. Department of State's Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation, the restoration of Villa Castagli study is currently under way. The one-year study is divided into two phases of six months each and is being overseen by renowned Egyptian architecture professor Saleh Lamei, director-general of the Centre for Conservation and Preservation of Islamic Architectural Heritage.

Phase one is a six-month conservation study looking at the best ways to prepare the villa for further use and restorations. Among the phase's features are a historical study, an environmental assessment, stone-and-brick investigations as well as laboratory tests on frescoes and glass. Results from the first phase will be used to create a strategy and methodology for restoring Villa Castagli to prime condition.

In phase two, the aging villa's construction will be closely examined. Working under Lamei's direction, engineers will create architectural and structural drawings, map the electrical and plumbing systems, develop work specifications and a list of materials needed for the villa's restoration.

The restoration work will be overseen by the Supreme Council of Antiquities, headed by Secretary-General Zahi Hawass under the auspices of Egypt's Minister of Culture Farouk Hosny. As part of its ongoing efforts to preserve national historical sites, the Egyptian government is willing to fully fund the estimated $4 million Villa Castagli restoration project.

The villa is slated to be more than a landmark once the work is complete. Villa Castagli will house a library open to the general public and contain a center to train Egyptians on preservation and restoration practices at museums. Among other potential adaptive uses of the villa following restoration is a school of museology that will be funded by USAID and implemented through the American Research Center in Egypt.

Egypt jumped 11 places to rank 70th in the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI), up from 81 in 2009.

However, the overall improvement was largely based on deteriorating conditions in other countries, according to the seventh annual Egyptian Competitiveness Report (ECR) titled "Green Egypt: A Vision for Tomorrow".

The Egyptian National Competitiveness Council (ENCC) launched the report in a conference Monday, presenting its findings and discussing the main issues.

Trade Minister Rachid Mohamed Rachid, who inaugurated the conference, disagreed with the report's conclusion, which attributed Egypt's improved ranking to the poor performance of other countries.

"Egypt showed progress when other countries were struggling, this is a testament to the financial and economic development Egypt has shown in the years prior to the crisis," Rachid said.

Read the full article here.

As Africans came together in unity to celebrate Africa Day today on May 25, we reflect on the progress we have made and the challenges that remain as we work toward achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). With only five years left until the 2015 deadline, dedicated resources and strong leadership from African nations are more important than ever. Over the past decade we have made great progress, but more needs to be done, especially in the area of health.

In 2001, Africa's heads of state signed the Abuja Declaration and committed to the eventual creation of The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, a public/private partnership and the largest multilateral financing institution in the fight against major causes of illness and mortality on our continent. Since then, The Global Fund has fostered stronger health systems in Africa, saved the lives of millions of women and children across the continent, strengthened economies of African countries through healthier workforces, and fostered partnerships between the public and private sectors.

2010 is a critical year as we strive to reach the MDG milestones for reducing childhood mortality, improving the lives of women and girls, and fighting infectious diseases. This year is also important for donor nations to pledge new resources to support Global Fund projects around the world.

The African Union Summit this July is a valuable opportunity to demonstrate African countries commitment to the Millennium Development Goals, especially in the health sector. We hope that the rest of the world will express similar commitment, and continue to pledge its increasing support to The Global Fund to help in achieving these goals. Investing in The Global Fund is an investment towards improving the lives of millions, and strengthening Africa now and in the future.

The authors are Co-Chairs of the Africa Day Commemoration in Washington, D.C.

To read this article from its original source, click here.

As one of only two markets in the Arab world to  be  given emerging market status by MSCI Barra, the Egyptian stock market attracts significant capital flows from overseas funds as well as from local investors. Moreover, since the EGX 30 index has risen 4.1 per cent in the year to date, Cairo is one of the best-performing markets in the region.

The Egyptian authorities are looking to boost that status by announcing measures that pave the ground for the introduction of index-linked funds and tighten the rules of disclosure for traded companies.

“Our aim is to find the correct balance between regulatory measures and energising the market by encouraging new forms of activity,” says Ziad Bahaa El-Din, chairman of the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority.

The EFSA was formed only last year and Mr Bahaa El-Din, a lawyer, is its first head. The body unifies under one management team the previous regulators of the capital market and the mortgage and insurance industries.
Over the past five years, Egyptian government policies have been mostly pro-business and strongly supportive of the private sector, giving the bourse an increasingly important role in the economy.

Read the full article here.

Elections for the Shura Council, the upper house of Egypt’s bicameral legislature, will be held on June 1st, 2010, with over 450 candidates representing independents and over a dozen political parties.

At the meeting organized by the National Council for Human Rights, which is organizing the participation of Egyptian civil society observers in the election on behalf of the HEC, the Commission committed itself to delivering accreditation documentation to thousands of observers in a timely manner prior to the election to ensure their smooth deployment around the country. The HEC also announced a 5 day extension to the accreditation deadline to ensure that all requests for accreditation would be met.

Egyptian electoral law allows for a number of election monitors and observers, including judges, candidate representatives, and Egyptian civil society observers, as we all Egyptian and foreign media. Observers will have access to polling stations to monitor balloting, as well as to ballot counting at district election centers.

The Secretary-General of the National Council for Human Rights, Ambassador Mahmoud Kassem, explained that model observation and complaint forms had been developed and distributed to the civil observers to standardize the reporting process. He also stated that an election observation center had been established at the Council to centralize the collection and forwarding of election complaints and reports from civil observers to the High Elections Commission.

In related news, the Monitoring and Rectification Committee for Media Coverage of the Election released its first weekly report on media coverage of the 2010 Shura Council Elections. In its report covering the period from 17 to 23 May, the Committee noted 7 instances of bias towards the National Democratic Party, as well as 1 instance of inappropriate use of religious issues in election coverage.

As part of its report the Committee issued a series of recommendations, including calling upon all media to abide by strict neutrality and to increase civic information content to encourage electoral awareness and participation.

The Committee established by the Ministry of Information includes representatives of public and private media outlets, all political parties participating in the election, as well as representatives of Egyptian civil society, including human rights organizations. The Committee is mandated to monitor audio-visual media coverage of the election, particularly publically owned media, to determine their compliance with media regulations certified by the High Elections Commission to ensure fair and neutral coverage.
 

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The Great Sphinx of Giza may have witnessed some incredible sights over the 4500 years it’s been reclining there, but few are likely to compete with the stunning lunacy of Friday night’s freestyle motocross (FMX) jamboree.

The event brought together the world’s 12 best FMX athletes on their second stop of the Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour 2010. Sailing 15 meters high and 30 meters in length, man and machine were seen suspended in astonishing poses against an ancient background of its own wonder.

The consistent gasps and “wows” of the 10,000 spectators throughout the two and a half hour event pierced the night, with stunt after stunt performed to a backdrop of blazing punk rock, heavy metal, and occasional pop.

“These guys are totally and utterly insane,” said one spectator after seeing a stunt that involved a rider letting go of his bike in midair for what seemed to be a very long two seconds, only hopping back onto it before what would have otherwise been a very nasty crash landing.

Though the event was injury-free, FMX is notorious for leaving its contestants with a history of broken bones. Nate Adams, who won last year’s world tour, was sporting a swollen hand the morning before the big event, after an accident during training and qualifications on Thursday.

“I broke my collar bone, several fingers and toes, my wrist, shoulder, left femur, and some of these several times over,” said 26-year-old Adams, half-amused, half-resigned to his fate. “I don’t think I was born to do anything else.”

Jones, who was raised in Phoenix, USA, finished third in last night’s competition, and began training for his FMX career at the age of eight. He says it isn’t fear or danger that are the most demanding in the sport, but rather the troubles of being on a world tour. “It’s really the jet lag, the exhaustion, and getting used to a bike that’s not your own that’s the real worry,” he said.

The winner of Friday’s competition was American Adam Jones, followed by Norwegian Andre Villa in second place.

By the time the event reached the finals, there was a sense of mounting repetition with the stunts. At that point, however, it did not matter as the mainly youthful spectators were buzzing on an excess of discounted Red Bull–which, along with Marlboro cigarettes--was decadently the only product within easy reach of purchase.

Organization was as lacking as any large event by the Pyramids, and tight security meant that each car was searched before parking--a process that for Al-Masry Al-Youm translated into over an hour to park.

All went smoothly once through the gates, augmented by Nile FM’s Safi delivering some lively and upbeat commentary.

Four more stops comprise the world tour, with the next event scheduled to take place on Moscow’s Red Square on 26 June, 2010.
 

To read the Ministry of Information’s HEC-certified state media coverage regulations, please click here.

Yesterday, the independent High Elections Commission (HEC) of Egypt announced the opening of the official campaign period for the upcoming Shura Council election. The Shura Council is the upper house of the Egyptian parliament, and one third of the Council is up for re-election on June 1st of this year.

The independent High Elections Commission (HEC) has certified the candidacies of 490 Egyptians representing a variety of parties, and independents to compete for 88 seats. 

Announcing a level playing field for campaigning, Chairman of the HEC, Justice Intisar Nasim, President of the Cairo Court of Appeals said that “all candidates are equal in the eyes of the commission,” adding that the Commission would strictly apply campaign rules, regardless of the candidates political affiliation.

Minister of Information, Anas El-Fiky also announced HEC-certified regulations for fair, equal and neutral media coverage, including free air time for all parties and candidates.

The HEC also announced that every stage of the election, from voting to ballot counting, would be monitored by members of the judiciary, as well as by candidates’ representatives and Egyptian civil society observers, with additional access granted to domestic and foreign media.
 

Washington, D.C. – Today in Cairo, the independent High Elections Commission (HEC) of Egypt announced the opening of the official campaign period for the 2010 Shura Council election that will take place on June 1st of this year.
The Shura Council is the upper house of the Egyptian parliament, which provides advice to the People’s Assembly, the lower chamber, and whose consent is required on fundamental laws that implement provisions of the constitution. The Council is made up of 264 members who serve for six years. Mid-term elections take place for half of the elected seats (88) every three years.

The HEC announced that 575 candidates applied during the candidate registration period, with 490 being certified. A number of applicants were not registered for reasons such as failing to provide certificates of completion of compulsory military service or having previous criminal convictions.

Level Field for Campaigning

In his announcement of the opening of the campaign the Chairman of the independent HEC, Justice Intisar Nasim, President of the Cairo Court of Appeals said that “all candidates are equal in the eyes of the commission,” adding that the Commission would strictly apply campaign rules, regardless of the candidates political affiliation. The independent HEC’s campaign regulations are drawn from constitutional and election law, including, among others, a ban on the use of public property or funds, houses of worship, violence, threats or bribery, and religious slogans, or those promoting discrimination on the basis of gender or origin, as well as establishing a campaign spending limit of EGP 200,000 (USD 35,700) per candidate.

Justice Nasim also announced that the Commission would respond to any complaints from candidates or civil society observers, and that each candidate would be given a digital copy of the voter registry for the district in which they were competing.

Fair, Equal & Neutral Media Coverage for All Competitors

In parallel with the kick-off of the official campaign period, the Minister of Information, Anas El-Fiky, announced the certification by the independent High Elections Commission of a series of guidelines and standards for audio-visual media coverage of the Shura Council campaign. All state media will be required to abide by a number of basic guidelines, including among others: fair, neutral and equal access to coverage and state media for all parties and candidates; protection for the privacy of candidates; and strict separation of political advertising from normal coverage.

Free Air Time for Parties and Candidates

The guidelines also provide for free air time to political parties on national and local publicly owned radio and television networks to present themselves and their platforms to Egyptian voters. All candidates will be given free air time on local airwaves, as well as equal opportunity to purchase political advertisements.

Independent Evaluation of Compliance

The independent High Election Commission will ensure compliance with these principles through a multi-stakeholder committee established by the Minister of Information that includes representatives from all parties participating in the election; private and public media outlets and experts; and Egyptian civil society groups, including Egyptian human rights organizations. The Committee will report any violations of failures to abide by these principles to the Ministry and the independent HEC, which has the legal authority to rectify any failures.

Noting the radically changed media environment, which saw an increase in private television stations from 14 to 56 in the last five years, the Minister appealed to private media outlets to abide by the same principles of fairness, neutrality and equality in their coverage of the elections.

Election Transparency & Election-Law Compliance to be Independently Observed

The Commission also announced that every stage of the election, from voting to ballot counting, would be monitored by members of the judiciary, and be observed by candidates’ representatives and Egyptian civil society observers, with additional access granted to domestic and foreign media.

His Excellency Sameh Shoukry, Egyptian Ambassador to the United States; General David H. Petraeus, Commander United States Central Command; United States Senator Dan Inouye (D-HI)




United States Senator Dan Inouye (D-HI) and his wife, Irene Hirano Inouye with Egyptian Defense, Military, Naval & Air Attaché Major General Mohamed Elkeshky and his wife, Malak Aly

Ambassador Sameh Shoukry hosted a social dinner at his residence on May 5th in honor of General David H. Petraeus, Commander of the United States Central Command.

The dinner presented an opportunity to recognize the importance of the Egyptian-American friendship and General Petraeus’ contributions to the relationship.

Attendees included: United States Senator Dan Inouye (D-HI), Congressman Howard Berman (D-CA), Assistant Secretaries of State Jeffrey Feltman and Andrew Shapiro, and Assistant Secretary of Defense Alexander Vershbow. Additional guests included friends of both Ambassador Shoukry and General Petraeus: former National Security Advisors Zbigniew Brzezinski and Brent Scowcroft, and Jessica Mathews, President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

During the event, the commitment to strengthen the relationship between Egypt and the U.S. was reinforced.

“The President of the Republic committed himself in his electoral platform to lift the state of emergency and formulate a new counterterrorism law which would balance personal freedom with the interests and security of society,” said Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif in his statement to the People’s Assembly today. “The Government restates this commitment to the representatives of the nation to lift the state of emergency as soon as a balanced law is adopted.”

Under the latest draft, the Government seeks to limit the scope and application of the emergency law solely for the purposes of countering terrorism and narcotics trafficking. Under the new reform the powers provided for under the emergency law would be solely confined to arrests of suspects, searching of persons and places suspected of involvement in terrorism and narcotics trafficking and the cancelation of licenses to bear arms or own explosive materials, and the right to confiscate them.

In recent years, Egypt has been repeatedly subjected to acts of terrorism, the most notorious of which was the assassination of Egypt’s head of state, President Anwar Sadat, in 1981. This tragedy led the Government to declare a “state of emergency,” which granted the government the authority to monitor communications, censor media, detain persons deemed to be a threat to national security and freeze property. Since 1981, the law has been continuously renewed.

“Egypt faces a very real and very serious terrorist threat, and the government’s primary responsibility is to keep our citizens safe,” said Sameh Shoukry, Egypt’s Ambassador to the United States. “We look forward to a day when a state of emergency will not be necessary in Egypt. In the meantime, the new legal limits on the emergency law represent a significant step in moving towards a new comprehensive counterterrorism law, an important but difficult process which we are now attempting to resolve.”

To view the Egyptian Government’s press release, please click here.
To view the Egyptian Embassy in Washington’s press release, please click here.
To read the full text of the Prime Minister’s speech, please click here.
To learn more about the Emergency Law, please click here.
 

The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors today approved a $7.15 million grant for Egypt, which will help finance the Alexandria Coastal Zone Management Project.

The grant will support the Government of Egypt’s efforts to reconcile economic development with environmental and social sustainability though the implementation of an integrated approach to coastal zone management, in particular the ongoing preparation of a National Strategy for Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM).

"We are pleased that the GEF grant will support this project, which is in line with the Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) for Egypt, namely to ensure environmental sustainability along with economic growth," said A. David Craig, Country Director for Egypt, Yemen and Djibouti.

The objective of Alexandria Coastal Zone Management Project is to improve institutional mechanisms for the sustainable management of coastal zones in Alexandria, in particular to reduce land-based pollution to the Mediterranean Sea. The project will pilot innovative and low-cost technologies for pollution reduction originating from agricultural drainage water and rural domestic wastewater.

To read the full article, please click here.

WASHINGTON - The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors today approved a Global Environment Facility (GEF) grant for Egypt in the amount of US$ 7.15 million to support the Alexandria Coastal Zone Management Project.

The grant will support the Government of Egypt’s efforts in reconciling economic development with environmental and social sustainability and implementing an integrated approach to coastal zone management, in particular the ongoing preparation of a National Strategy for Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM).

"We are pleased that the GEF grant will support this project which is in line with the Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) for Egypt, namely to ensure environmental sustainability along with economic growth," said A. David Craig, Country Director for Egypt, Yemen and Djibouti.

The objective of the project is to improve institutional mechanisms for the sustainable management of coastal zones in Alexandria, in particular to reduce land-based pollution to the Mediterranean Sea. The project will pilot innovative and low-cost technologies for pollution reduction originating from agricultural drainage water and rural domestic wastewater.

"The project will reduce the sources of pollution entering the Lake Mariout and subsequently the Mediterranean Sea through pilot pollution reduction measures, and will put in place a participatory mechanism for the integrated and sustainable management of the valuable coastal resources" said Maged Hamed, the World Bank's Task Team Leader of the project. 

The Alexandria Coastal Zone Management Project will be implemented as part of the GEF-World Bank-UNEP Strategic Partnership for the Mediterranean Sea Large Marine Ecosystem (LME), which will support capital investments, economic instruments, implementation of policy reforms, and strengthening of public institutions and public participation. 

The project complements other ongoing projects financed by the Bank including the Second Egypt Pollution Abatement Project (EPAP II)[i], which aims at the reduction of industrial pollution in two hot spots, namely Alexandria (primarily Lake Mariout) and Greater Cairo. In addition, the project builds on the experience gained from the Integrated Sewerage and Sanitation Infrastructure Project (ISSIP), implemented in the fields of sewerage treatment, water quality monitoring, and social participation.
 

To view this article from its original source, please click here.

A work by Egyptian master Mahmud Said sold for US$2.43 million at an auction in Dubai, a record for a modern painting by a Middle Eastern artist, auction house Christie's said.

The painting, "Les Chadoufs," portrays Egyptian peasants drawing water from the Nile.

Christie's, which organized Tuesday night's auction at a luxury hotel in Dubai, had estimated its value at between US$150,000 and 200,000. The identity of the buyer was not revealed.

The British auction house said the price was a "record for any modern painting by any Middle Eastern artist."

Read the full article here.

The Egyptian stock exchange index has risen 20.6 per cent this year. While still short of the peaks it reached in early 2008, the rise comes on top of a robust rally in 2009 and means that the Cairo exchange is one of the best performers in the Middle East and North Africa this year.

“What we thought of as a dead cat bounce in March last year has slowly but surely turned into a decent recovery from the bottom,” says Wael Ziada, head of Egypt research at EFG-Hermes, a regional investment bank.
At the beginning of the year, EFG-Hermes forecast 25 per cent growth in its benchmark HFI index but Mr Ziada says that, with most of this already achieved, he expects the bourse to beat the forecast by “maybe” 5 to 10 per cent.
“The only thing that could blemish this performance would be a significant macro event in the second part of the year,” he says. “It could be something like a severe financial crisis in Europe or an extreme political shock.”
For the moment, however, the best prospects, says Mr Ziada, are for stocks in cyclical sectors or those catering to local consumer demand.

Buoyed mostly by strong domestic demand, the Egyptian economy grew 4.7 per cent in the year ending June 2009, and forecasts for this year are for growth of upwards of 5 per cent.”

Read the full article here.

Egypt on Wednesday convicted 26 men it linked to Lebanon's Hezbollah of planning attacks inside the country, in a case that has underscored Sunni Arab concerns about the rising influence of the Iranian-backed group.
Judge Adel Abdel Salam Gomaa of Egypt's emergency state security court said investigations had proved the group intended "to strike Egypt's economy, destroy the bonds between its people and create chaos and instability throughout the country."

The court sentenced the men — who included Lebanese, Palestinians, Egyptians and one Sudanese — to jail terms from six months to life. Some were convicted in absentia.

Among those tried was Sami Chehab, also named as Mohamed Youssef Mansour Ahmed, who received a jail term of 15 years. He was present in court, placed with the others inside a cage.

Read the full article here.

Amid fears of renewed armed conflict in the North, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak reassured his Lebanese counterpart Sa'ad Hariri on Tuesday that Israel had no plans to attack his country.

On his way out of a meeting with Mubarak at the Red Sea resort of Sharm e-Sheikh, Hariri said the Egyptian president had cited "positive" signs from his recent contacts with Israel.

However, the Lebanese president said he was assured Egypt would support Lebanon should such a war break out.

Hariri denied recent accusations that Syria had transferred Scud missiles to Hizbullah in Lebanon, saying his country was "not prepared to sit in the dock."

Read the full article here.

Egypt’s Parliament approved on April 20th a law to combat Human Trafficking. The law comes at a crucial time as Human Trafficking has become a world wide problem and the third most profitable illegal business in the world after weapons and drugs.

The law aims to criminalize all forms of human trafficking, impose stern penalties on all parties involved in trafficking and guarantee the protection of the victim while working to adopt a comprehensive approach built on prevention, protection and assistance to the victims of human trafficking.

The anti-trafficking law is part of a comprehensive government strategy to combat the illegal transfer and exploitation of persons. Several measures have recently been introduced, including the creation of a new hotline to provide round-the-clock assistance to children and women in distress, the establishment of a National Coordinating Committee to Combat and Prevent Trafficking in Persons as well as an intensive media campaign to highlight the issue.

The recently passed law provides for the establishment of rehabilitation and educational programs for victims of trafficking through governmental and non-governmental agencies. The law also calls for strict prison terms for anyone convicted of a human trafficking related crime and fines ranging between $9,000 and $36,000.

The Minister of State for Family and Population Moushira Khattab noted the importance of the law, viewing it as a mechanism to protect the rights of those that are most vulnerable in society.

UN Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons Joy Ngozi Ezeilo praised the “strong political commitment of the Egyptian government to tackle [human trafficking],” while highlighting some of the challenges that still persist in combating the problem.

Ezeilo, who was on a 10-day visit to Egypt upon the request of the Egyptian government to evaluate the situation of human trafficking in Egypt and give recommendations, explained that the government showed commitment through the ratification of several international conventions and ongoing legislative developments.
She especially welcomed the adoption of the Law on Combating Trafficking in Persons as containing “all that is required to effectively combat human trafficking, especially an extensive definition of trafficking and a clause aiming at the non-criminalization of the victims.”

This new law comes within a series of legislative developments, such as the law prohibiting organ trafficking, the criminalization of child trafficking and the amendment to the Child Law which raised the minimum age of marriage of girls to 18 years.

A school bus tour around Egypt’s governorates is UNESCO Egypt’s mobile, innovative way to raise awareness about the global movement Education for All (EFA).

As part of the EFA week, the campaign aims at educating people about the movement’s six main goals and is carried out in cooperation with UNICEF Egypt and under the auspices of the Ministry of Education.

“Every year UNESCO [on a global level] organizes an Education for All week to raise awareness about the importance of education and about reaching the six EFA goals,” said Ghada Gholam, program specialist in education at UNESCO Egypt.

“On the local level we usually organize events, this year we chose an innovative idea. We got a bus to use this week to roam around governorates to raise awareness among all members of the community about the importance of education,” she explained.

“It has a vision; education can take place anywhere, it can happen in schools and it can happen outside schools as well,” Gholam added.

The EFA bus will be touring around six governorates in Egypt from April 26 and until May 5 starting with Cairo to Menufiya, Alexandria, Minya, Sohag and Assiut.

The six EFA goals it will be advocating are: early childhood care and education; universal primary education; learning life skills; adult literacy; gender equality in education and enhancing the quality of education.

The campaign is targeting all stakeholders in education; these include the government, civil society, educators, parents and children. “We want to make sure that every member [of the community] receives good quality education,” noted Gholam.

The EFA bus took off from the premises of the Ministry of Education yesterday morning, with representatives from the different partners present.

The bus is carrying two young volunteers, who will be responsible for reaching out to the community in the respective governorate through various activities and games.

“We are planning to use all the different ways possible to bring people back to education,” said Minister of Education Ahmed Zaki Badr, referring to those who dropped out of school or are illiterate.

“We are going to support innovative means in order to make up for past time,” he added.

“This is not a project it’s a vision that the ministry has for children in Egypt,” said UNICEF Egypt representative, Erma Manoncourt.

“Education is the foundation…it’s the basis for the future of Egypt,” she added.

Badr also outlined plans to increase the number of classes in schools as well as build new schools all in an effort to reduce the number of students in each class.

“When the minister talks about education for all it really [sheds light on] education for all children in Egypt,” said Manoncourt.

“He kept on emphasizing the kinds of things they want to do to either improve the schools, to expand the schools, to expose the children to other aspects, so it’s really getting to the fundamental basis of development which is education,” she added, “Education of children especially because those are the leaders of tomorrow so if you make the investment today, you get a double dividend, you get a multiplier.”

The global EFA initiative aims to meet the learning needs of all children, youth and adults by 2015.

“I call on all UNESCO’s partners in Egypt, government, parliamentarians, international agencies, non-governmental organizations, communities, teachers and students to support the Global Action Week on Education for All and advocate for the right to education for all in order to meet the six EFA goals by the set target of 2015,” said Tarek Shawki from UNESCO Egypt.

The bus will make one-day stops in each governorate. Gholam noted that while educating a person in one day is not possible, advocating for the importance of education is.

“You can convince them that it is important to send their girls as well as their boys to school, convince them that early childhood education is important because then the child is prepared for basic education, convince those who are illiterate and didn’t get a chance to go to school that there are other ways as community learning centers where they can get educated,” she said.

“So it is not that one day is enough to educate people but one day is enough to raise awareness of the importance of education in that governorate,” said Gholam.

The “Boy King” returned to New York City on April 23, for the first time in 30 years. To commemorate the occasion, Egypt’s Ambassador to the United States H.E. Sameh Shoukry asked U.S. Representative Carolyn Maloney to accept King Tut’s “passport” for safe keeping. The short ceremony took place at the Discovery Times Square Exposition immediately preceding the gala event celebrating the opening of the King Tut exhibit.

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Despite poverty, overpopulation and a lack of education about environmental issues, Egypt is making some small strides towards improving its environmental ecosystem.

Earth day is being celebrated in Egypt by environmentalists Thursday amid attempts to raise public awareness about the consequences of pollution and damage to the country's fragile ecosystem with a growing population now estimated at 80 million people.

The daunting task of improving the quality of life for those people amid challenging circumstances is being tackled by government agencies and NGOs, and small strides are being made.

Egyptian authorities have tried to clamp down, with partial success, on the pall of black smoke hanging over Cairo every autumn, after farmers illegally burn off what is left of their rice crops.

Sa'id Sadek, who teaches political science at the American University of Cairo says the government is trying to solve the problem, but many bureaucracies make that effort complicated:

"They are working on the black smoke; there are laws, but the problem is that the enforcement of the law is dispersed among several institutions," said Sa'id Sadek. "It is the job of the governorate, the ministry of the interior, the ministry of irrigation, agriculture. Then, because you have a jungle of institutions and bureaucracies involved, it is a little difficult. What to do? There are laws. The problem is always enforcement and the people breaking the law are not aware of the consequences."

Sadek notes the government made a major improvement to the nation's air quality after it switched over to lead-free fuel, but that the quality of life for many is not ideal:

"All the fuel in Egypt today is lead free and that has improved the quality of the air," said Sadek. "But still, the heavy traffic, the overpopulation, the poverty, the lack of green space in the city of Cairo makes it still not an easy, environmental friendly city."

He also points out that the government is gradually trying to phase out Cairo's ancient fleet of black and white taxis, many of which date back to the 1960s and '70s, by giving taxi owners the chance to buy new vehicles at subsidized prices.

Mona Fadali of the NGO "Friends of the Environment" says her group concentrates much of its efforts on educating young people in Egyptian schools, so that they are more aware of their responsibilities as good citizens to protect the environment.

She also points to several specific projects that have been undertaken to raise public awareness, including one to save the environmentally damaged Lake Mariout, south of Cairo, which has attracted the attention of the Egyptian media:

"We had two projects related to Lake Mariout," said Mona Fadali. "They were just building buildings on top of the lake and destroying the lake with all kinds of pollution: industrial pollution, agricultural pollution [were] being thrown into the lake. So, as an NGO, we made public hearing sessions, workshops, and a complaint in the newspapers about how to save the lake."

She also points to a campaign by her organization in the Egyptian port city of Alexandria to save the sea-turtle, which is increasingly threatened by garbage and the destruction of its habitat. "Each year, we work with other Mediterranean countries," she says, "to clean up the coastline and remove garbage that hurts the turtles."

To view this article from its original source, please click here.

The visit was an opportunity for me to meet with members of the Egyptian community based in the Charlotte area and to get to know their personal experiences and achievements. Among them were chemists, students, priests, sheikhs, lawyers and businessmen keen to discuss their community’s organization, Egyptian domestic developments and the services provided by the Egyptian Embassy and consulates in the US. In this regard, I affirmed my keenness to develop the online services available on the Embassy’s website, in a way that will help them getting their requests processed through a mouse click and help further connect the members of the Egyptian-American community in the US.

I was delighted to give remarks at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte (UNCC) regarding the challenges facing Egypt and the Middle East, during which I sought to highlight the effect of those challenges on international peace and security, and the centrality of the Palestinian issue in resolving regional crises and countering forces of instability. I further stressed the importance of ongoing Egyptian-American cooperation in achieving these objectives.
During my visit to the UNCC, I had a long discussion with the University’s professors and students, which confirmed to me how avid, are the Americans for understanding Egypt’s views on the urgency of advancing the peace process towards the creation of an independent and viable Palestinian state in addition to strengthening the nuclear nonproliferation regime.

In the Middle East Council of the Carolinas, I had an invaluable conversation over dinner with several Carolinas’ prominent figures who are dedicating time and efforts to foster understanding a between the Middle Eastern community and the community at large in North and South Carolinas.

Members of the Jewish Federation of Greater Charlotte at Shalom Park have also been very warm in greeting me, and I had a candid and very interesting dialogue with them on the ongoing developments in the Middle East.

Being at Charlotte, one of the largest banking centers in the United States, offered also a unique opportunity to reach out with leading business figures in North Carolina. In this regard, I had a thorough dialogue on the Egyptian Economy’s performance and Egypt-US economic relations, and I hope that such outreach will contribute in raising awareness on trade and investment opportunities with Egypt.

In a nutshell, it was a pleasure visiting Charlotte, and I’m personally grateful for the enthusiasm and support of all the people who were involved in the organization of the visit.

Sameh Shoukry

The Egyptian Ambassador’s visit to Charlotte took place from April 18 till 20. Mr. Shoukry concluded his visit with a TV interview at News 14 Charlotte with Rob Boisvert.

To read the press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, please click here.

The Ambassador started the visit with a breakfast meeting with the representatives of the Egyptian community in Charlotte, as they discussed the current developments in Egypt and the Middle East and the Egyptian community's interests in the US. In this context, the Ambassador discussed with the Egyptian Muslims and Copts – including representatives of the Egyptian church in Charlotte – the issue of establishing an association and an official society to encompass Egyptians living in Charlotte and the US, which will preserve their interests, supply them with facilities, and enhance solidarity among them. The Ambassador affirmed that the Egyptian embassy in Washington intends to boost the efficiency of its internet site to link and connect the Egyptian community in the US, the matter which will boost the ability of the "two sides of the nation" to present support for the nation's issues. Meanwhile, the Ambassador accepted the invitation from the community's representatives to attend a huge party for the Egyptian community in Charlotte, which is currently organized.

Ambassador Sameh Shoukry, furthermore, delivered a speech at the North Carolina University entitled "Egypt and the challenges in the Middle East" in which he pointed to the effect of those challenges on the international security and stability, indicating that the accomplishment of justice in the main issue which motivates the passions of the peoples of the region is the key to achieving stability in the Middle East. The Ambassador added that Egypt appreciates the pioneering role played by the American administration to push the negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis forwards. He stressed the importance of carrying on the Egyptian-American cooperation in order to achieve stability and development in the Middle East and asserted that justice settles peace and that stability enhances development and welfare of the region.

Ambassador Sameh Shoukry outlined that achieving comprehensive peace in the Middle East and establishing a Palestinian state that lives beside the state of Israel is not an impossible aim, but it is an accessible one. He necessitated that the upcoming phase witness a number of procedures to curb the current crisis, most important of which are halting all the Israeli settlement activities, lifting all the Israeli security boundaries in the Palestinian territories, unifying the Palestinian stance and improving the humanitarian and living circumstances in the Gaza Strip.

The speech also tackled the Iraqi file in which Ambassador Shoukry affirmed the importance of preserving the security and political gains which have been achieved in Iraq lately, demonstrating the last Egyptian policies to sustain the Iraqi side. As concerns Iran, Ambassador Sameh Shoukry underlined the importance of tackling the nuclear Iranian file within the framework of international diplomatic efforts, based on laying the foundations of a unified standard to deal with all the challenges confronting the nuclear non-proliferation system in the region. This includes globalizing the NPT and applying the IEAE guarantees, in order to establish a zone free from mass destruction weapons.

Ambassador Sameh Shoukry, moreover, met with the leaderships of some commercial enterprises and economic and banking institutions which are based in Charlotte. The meeting tackled the current situation in Egypt and the region, and the status quo of the Egyptian-American relations on the economic and commercial fields, and the Egyptian economy and the chances of investment in it.

The Ambassador has also met with the leaderships of the Jewish organizations in Charlotte. The meeting focused on the Palestinian cause and the Iranian file. He also met with members of Carolina Council for Middle East Affairs, which aims to acquaint the citizens of Northern and Southern Carolina with the current situation in the region and propagate for the peoples' cultures and contributions through organizing cultural and educational events. The discussion with the members of the council tackled the importance of increasing the number of Egyptian citizens participating in the activities of the council and reinforcing the Arab presence in it.

The Egyptian Ambassador in the United States concluded his visit to Charlotte by a t.v. interview in which he elaborated the conclusions of his visit to Charlotte and the Egyptian vision towards the current situation in the Middle East.
 

Business Today Egypt

After a mediocre 2009, the economy is finally bouncing back, and the construction industry is poised to lead the way.

A recent Cabinet report expects annual GDP growth to hit 5.1%, with construction the third strongest sector, growing at 11.5% (behind hospitality, 13.1%, and information and communication technologies, 12.8%).

Analysts at EFG-Hermes have raised GDP growth forecasts from 4.5% to 4.8% and cite contributions from the construction industry as a driving force behind the increase. A government stimulus package that targets infrastructure projects helped revive the industry, which had virtually ground to a halt during the economic crisis.

Experts are optimistic about construction growth, centered on new infrastructure, housing and tourist developments, but warn that shortages in cement and steel could place limits on the upward trend.

And while there is widespread agreement on the promising future of the construction industry, affiliated industry leader opinions vary on the sectors that are most effectively pushing growth forward.

Stimulus

The construction industry suffered like any other during the global downturn, but a massive government stimulus helped it stay alive. A Beltone financial report states that the fiscal stimulus will total LE 33 billion between FY2008-FY2010.

At the Economist Intelligence Unit roundtable held on February 15, Finance Minister Youssef Boutros-Ghali indicated that the government will propose additional public projects to push growth over 5%. He also said that the government hopes to attract investments valuing LE 20–25 billion over the next five years through its Public Private Partnership (PPP) strategy.

Injecting funds into infrastructure projects to increase broad economic activity is a standard move for governments and has seen success in a variety of contexts. According to Dr. Ahmed Anees, former director of the Center for Real Estate Evaluation Experts at Cairo University, “This is the usual global policy whenever there is a recession, not only in Egypt. Investing in infrastructure is the most common solution as it creates jobs and expands public utilities for growth,” he says.

If there is any criticism of the government’s stimulus plan, it is that the plan should be more aggressive. “The country needs a lot of infrastructure; I believe that the best strategy to build roads, bridges, ports, etc. for a population of 80 million, would be BOT [build-operate-transfer],” says Dr. Ahmad Mattar, chairman of the Arab Union for Real Estate Development. “The [stimulus] packages are relatively insufficient for a real estate market that is worth LE 1 trillion.”

The BOT model is a form of PPP where a private company builds the infrastructure and operates it for a set amount of time in order for the company to turn a profit, but then transfers control of the infrastructure to the government after that time has elapsed. By giving private companies an incentive to use their own money in projects, the government is able to take on construction on a larger scale without substantially increasing the national debt.

Housing

Though the construction sector certainly benefitted from the stimulus, it is not completely reliant on government spending to survive. Egypt is one of the fastest growing nations in the world, and Mattar contends that demographic growth is the main factor behind the construction sector’s recovery.

“There’s a real increasing demand on housing due to the 2.1 percent annual growth in Egypt’s population, which represents an extra 1.4 million inhabitants every year that require an increase of 600,000 housing units,” he says. He points out that the cultural importance of owning a home before marrying also drives demand for residential building.

The former director of the National Center for Housing and Construction Research, Amr Ezzat, noted that the construction sector employs more than 4 million workers in an interview with the Emirati newspaper Alrro’ya.

But even with so many workers, he estimates that only about 60% of demand for residential housing is currently being met. (He also admits that this is a notoriously difficult percentage to estimate accurately.)

Tourism

With a wealth of ancient monuments and beautiful coastlines on two sides, Egypt is a perennially popular tourist destination. As the global economy continues to recover, new hotels and resorts are being built to accommodate the expected tourism surge.

Business Monitor International reported on March 10 that tourism dropped 2.3% in 2009. The report maintains that the drop is not as severe as industry experts had anticipated, given the economic climate, and that the tourism sector is positioned for a strong recovery in 2010.

Tourism growth fuels construction along the Red Sea and the Mediterranean as domestic and foreign investors increase capacity to accommodate travelers.

Anees claims that outside of government contracts, tourism is the primary driver of new construction. “Most projects are in the direction of tourism, [] other construction sectors are dominated by the government,” says Anees.

One example, according to Gulf News, is that the city of Marsa Matrouh currently has 29 separate construction projects underway with the goal of eventually accommodating up to 30 million visitors a year.

Governor of Marsa Matrouh Ahmed Hussein told Gulf News, “The project will help us bring in over $10 million (LE 55 million) worth of investments to Egypt, and will create more than 61,000 job opportunities.”

Steel and Cement

Even with these three sources of growth, a full recovery is not guaranteed. “Construction helps the growth of [numerous] industries that start with cement and steel and end with electric cables and water tanks,” says Mattar, highlighting the ability of the construction industry to spur overall growth.

But the industries that construction depends on could alternately hold it back.

At the Davos Economic Forum, Minister of Trade and Industry Rasheed Mohamed Rasheed announced that Egypt will issue draft permits for the construction of eight new cement plants.

Rasheed hopes that the new plants will start producing by 2014 or 2015 in order to help meet local demand, which increased 16% in 2009.

Responding to market forces, the two largest national cement companies, Suez and Amreya, attempted to increase prices by LE 22 per ton to reach LE 455, but in the end both companies backed off.

Rasheed’s legal advisor, Hisham Ragab said that the two companies backpedaled in response to a government warning, according to Al-Masry Al-Youm.

The steel sector is more complicated, reflecting the partially liberalized state of the economy. Local producers are asking for protection from importers, who want to profit over locally inflated prices.

Turkish steel producers rely heavily on scrap, while Egyptian firms rely on iron ore, which has the effect of making Turkish steel LE 200 cheaper per ton. This led Egyptian authorities to consider pursuing an anti-dumping case against Turkish importers, though further action failed to materialize.

While the cheap steel is welcome by builders now, undercutting local producers makes the construction industry more vulnerable to global price fluctuations, potentially creating problems down the road.

But Anees has great confidence in real estate investments. “Real estate was and still is safer [than investing in the stock market]. It will be the same or even grow faster in the near future.”

Egypt recorded a 24 percent increase in tourism revenue in the first quarter of 2010 as the industry recovered from last year’s global financial crisis, said Egypt’s tourism minister, Zoheir Garranah.

According to Garranah, revenue increased to $2.7 billion for the three months through March, and tourist arrivals advanced 29 percent to 3.46 million visitors. “We have completely rebounded,” he said.

The modern Egyptian economy depends on tourism, foreign direct investment and the Suez Canal for foreign currency. Tourism, which accounts for more than 12 percent of jobs in modern Egypt, generated $10.76 billion in 2009, according to the ministry.

Besides its historical attractions, Egypt also draws tourists seeking sun, sand and diving along its Red Sea coast and in the Sinai Peninsula. Russia is still the largest source of tourists to Egypt, as arrivals from Russia grew 93.5 percent in the first quarter and revenue increased 80 percent over the same period in 2009, the minister said.

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Revenue increased to $2.7 billion for the three months through March, Zoheir Garranah said in a telephone interview today from the city of Luxor in southern Egypt. Tourist arrivals advanced 29 percent to 3.46 million visitors, he said.

“We have completely rebounded,” Garranah said. “But still I believe this country deserves more.”

The Egyptian economy depends on tourism, foreign direct investment and the Suez Canal for foreign currency. Tourism, which accounts for more than 12 percent of jobs, generated $10.76 billion in 2009, according to the ministry.

The economy of Egypt, home to the Pyramids of Giza, grew 4.7 percent in the fiscal year through June, beating the forecast of the International Monetary Fund. The government expects the economy to grow more than 5 percent this fiscal year.

Besides its historical attractions, Egypt also draws tourists seeking sun, sand and diving along its Red Sea coast and in the Sinai Peninsula. Russia maintained its position as the main source of tourists to the Arab country, with arrivals from the country growing 93.5 percent in the first quarter and revenue increasing 80 percent over the same period in 2009, the minister said.

To view the article from its original source, please click here. 

To view this interview on PBS, please click here.

PASCAGOULA, MS (WLOX) - VT Halter Marine will build its first Egyptian defense ship to help fight the global war on terror. This Egyptian investment is expected to create hundreds of jobs for South Mississippians. The Jackson County shipbuilder held a special keel laying ceremony Wednesday to celebrate construction.

U.S. Navy men and women watched as a global partnership was sealed with sparks and fire. Egypt's Chief Naval commander traced his initials into the keel of his nation's first missile ship to be built in Mississippi at VT Halter Marine.

"The Egyptians were very interested in the design VT Halter had," U.S. Rear Admiral William Landay said.

U.S. Rear Admiral Landay spent two years helping his Egyptian counterparts work with the shipbuilder to design the Navy Fast Missile Craft. The state of the art ship will be 200 feet long with advanced technology, exceptional security and fighting capabilities.

"It will be a very capable ship, and it has missiles to attack other ships, and it has guns and radar."

Rear Admiral Landay said the ship will patrol and protect the country's coastline and canals.

"It will be a player in their region and that is what the Egyptian Navy was looking for."

This is one of four ships the foreign country has hired VT Halter to build for $807 million. Company CEO Build Skinner said this project will surely keep his shipbuilder busy and create more jobs.

"It is going to provide employment through the end of 2013," Skinner said. "We will add an additional 300 jobs."

Skinner said to be able to build up a workforce in this weak economy is great news for the company and those craftsmen looking for work.

To read the story from Gulf Live, please click here.

The number of mobile phone subscriptions in Egypt rose by 642,000 to 56.49 million in February, according to communications ministry data. The figures amount to a penetration rate of around 72 per cent, although industry executives and analysts estimate that some 20 to 25 per cent of the market involves second phones. January subscriptions were 55.848 million.

Most see room for growth up to around 65 million accounts, or 85 per cent of the population. A year ago the three mobile firms -- Mobinil, Vodafone Egypt and Etisalat Egypt -- had 43.49 million subscribers in Egypt, whose population is 78 million.

Read the full article here.

Over the years, Egypt's antiquities chief Zahi Hawass has made the return of looted Egyptian artifacts the hallmark of his tenure and won many battles to bring home Pharaonic items and other ancient relics.

In March, Egypt said it retrieved from Britain some 25,000 ancient artifacts, including a stone axe dating back 200,000 years and pottery from the seventh millennium BC.

To read the full article, please click here.

 

The two-day conference will be attended by antiquities officials, deputy culture ministers and museum directors from 16 countries that have seen some of their national heritage stolen over the centuries.

Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) said the forum will discuss "the protection and restitution of cultural heritage".

Delegates will also draw up lists of artefacts missing from their countries and displayed in museums abroad, treasures they have been demanding be returned, the SCA said.

The conference will also call on the UN cultural body Unesco to amend a convention that bans export or ownership of stolen antiquities acquired after 1970.

The convention deals with the "means of prohibiting and preventing the illicit import, export and transfer of ownership of cultural property", but stipulates there will be no "retro-active" measure for artefacts acquired before the convention was signed in 1970.

To read the orginal article, please click here.

Preparations for Easter commence with a 55-day fast when cereals and foods of plant origin cooked in olive oil form the main diet. No animal products -- no meat, eggs, milk or fish -- are consumed, nor even coffee. Spring is in the air, and on street corners in predominantly Christian areas of Cairo, palm-fronds woven into crosses of all sizes are sold on street corners. Some are rosettes in an exquisite design which people hang on the front doors of their houses. Others adorn the sitting room, and smaller ones are hung in bedrooms. Palm fronds and any early spring growth is a feature of Easter -- rebirth in every sense of the word.

Palm Sunday falls a week before the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem shortly before his Passion, as mentioned in all four canonical gospels, and the ritual is reminiscent of ancient times when the Pharaoh, having returned in triumph after victory over his enemies, was met with green branches, the blossoms of Spring, glorifying him as saviour and victor. Likewise, when Jesus Christ returned to the Holy Land he was met by multitudes waving palm branches, a symbol of victory over those who would do him harm, and to us today symbolising resurrection.

During Holy Week ( Isbu Al-Alam or "Week of Pain" in Arabic) the Passion of Jesus Christ is celebrated with specific events in the last week in his life, culminating in Palm Sunday ( Hadd Al-Zaaf ) when, as in the early church, the priest blesses fronds of the date palm and a procession is formed. The clergy, bearing the cross, incense tapers and palm fronds, move round the church, praying at each altar, the principal icons, and the reliquaries. On this day, Copts also remember their own dear departed, visit family graves, and place palm fronds and bunches of flowers around their tombs.

On Good Friday, which the Copts call Al-Gomaa Al-Hazina or "Sad Friday", church altars are draped in black. This is followed by Sabt Al-Nur, "Saturday of Light", so named after the miraculous light that appeared in the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. The bishop, in full ecclesiastical attire with stole and crown, and assisted by the clergy who forms a semicircle around him, stands before the elaborately adorned sanctuary screen of the church. Young deacons in long white robes assist in the service. Special prayers are said for the troubled and ailing, and, incidentally for "the River Nile" and for the "fruits of the earth".

The opening of the door of the sanctuary to reveal the holy inner chambers with the altar is an act that symbolises the rolling away of the stone from the tomb where Jesus was laid, and from which he arose. The bishop and the clergy then raise their crosses and banners high in jubilation and proceed round the church, intoning a joyous hymn. Holy Communion follows, with members of the congregation first shaking hands, symbolising fellowship, and then lining up (men and women separately) to receive the Eucharist.

Seven round loaves of freshly-baked bread made of the finest wheat flour are baked in a special oven by a member of the church. These are offered to the bishop, who carefully inspects each one to select the perfect one to represent the faultlessness of Jesus. The bread must not, according to long-established tradition, be cut with a knife, but should always be broken by hand in a special manner. The pieces are dipped in the holy wine -- unfermented wine made by soaking dried grapes in water which is distributed to churches in large wicker-covered jars.

Having received the Eucharist (standing, not kneeling), the clergy move along the aisle to give a final blessing, and as the congregation rises to leave the church, they utter such phrases as "Christ has risen", and "Indeed, He has risen". It is a joyous occasion. Easter celebrations provide a spiritual and dramatic narrative of the mystery of the death and resurrection of Christ, from the sorrows of his Passion through to the spirited tempo of Easter, his resurrection.

One cannot help but be moved by Coptic hymns and chants for the celebration of Lent, Holy Week, the Passion of Christ and "Light" Saturday, through to the magnificent Resurrection chants. And so, in conclusion, I would add that the late Ragheb Moftah, one of the founders of the Higher Institute of Coptic Studies in the 1950s, established a music division and formed the first Coptic Orthodox Choir. Moftah sought out the most accomplished cantors and deacons, and spent his lifetime preserving the musical heritage of the church. He established two centres to teach Coptic chant melodies, one in Bab Al-Hadid and the other in Old Cairo, and subjected his talented students to a rigorous training programme, recording their voices, and eventually completing the entire corpus of Coptic Orthodox liturgical chants.

As members of the congregation exit the church, many purchase sacred loaves which, like the Eucharist bread, are stamped with a cross at the centre, representing Jesus, and with 12 small crosses representing his disciples. These are later broken into pieces and placed under children's pillows as a personal blessing.

Easter is a time for alms-giving, part of an age-old tradition in the Nile Valley, when those of means help people less fortunate than themselves. It is also a time for good fellowship and, of course, merry-making by children. They walk along the streets, usually in groups to show off their new clothes bought especially for the occasion. Those with bicycles weave crinkly coloured paper into the spokes of their bicycles. Groups frequently hire a donkey-cart to travel along the main thoroughfares of the city, and the sounds of singing and drum-beating fill the air. Easter is a long holiday weekend, and an extremely popular one, because the following day, Monday, is Sham Al-Nessim (literally "smell the breeze"), the official first day of Spring and a national celebration for the whole population, Muslim and Christian, which has its origin in an ancient Egyptian festival associated with the rebirth of the land.

Egypt’s national soccer team has moved up three places to fourteenth in the world, according to the latest Fifa world rankings released on Wednesday. With Hassan Shehata as their coach, The Pharaoh’s are the highest ranked soccer team in Africa.

World Cup-bound Cameroon is the only other team from the continent in the world's top 20.

Spain retained the top spot, while Portugal and England both improved their positions in the top 10.

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Hassan Shehata's team, who lost 3-1 to England in their latest friendly, is the highest ranked African team.

World Cup-bound Cameroon is the only other side from the continent in the world's top 20.

Spain retained top spot while Portugal and England both improved their positions in the top 10.

European champions Spain lead second-place Brazil and the third-placed Netherlands, with Portugal fourth after climbing two places.

Most team slides in the rankings came about because points earned from World Cup qualifiers played in March 2009 lost their value.

To view the article from its original source, please click here.

President Hosni Mubarak is to leave a German hospital in the coming days, after a gallbladder operation earlier this month, a spokeswoman for the clinic said Wednesday.

"Doctors had not yet decided when exactly the 81-year-old would be released," a spokeswoman for Heidelberg University Clinic was quoted by Egypt's official Middle East News Agency ( MENA) as saying.

She added, however, that health was stable enough for this to happen in the next few days.

"The doctors said they were happy with Mubarak's recovery and said he was in good health after the strain of the surgery," the spokeswoman said.

The president had his gall-bladder removed in the German hospital on March 6, after being diagnosed with a serious inflammation.

Meanwhile, Gamal Mubarak, the son of Egypt's president, and his wife have had a baby girl, state news agency MENA said on Tuesday.

Farida Gamal Hosni Mubarak was the first child born to Gamal, 46, and his wife Khadija el-Gammal.

The 46-year-old former investment banker married Gammal, the daughter of a wealthy businessman, in 2007.
Members of Mubarak's family have been by his bedside regularly, but MENA did not say where the baby girl, the president's first granddaughter, was born nor whether Gamal Mubarak was at the birth.
Mohamed, one of the president's two grandsons from his son, Alaa, died unexpectedly aged 12 last May. The president has worn a black tie in public since then.

Mubarak has not said if he will run for a sixth six-year term in the 2011 presidential election. Many Egyptians believe that, if he does not, he will try to hand power to his politician son. Both Mubaraks deny any such plan.

In 1978, as crowds packed the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s blockbuster “King Tut,” Steve Martin had a hit with the novelty song about the doomed pharaoh. “Now, if I’d known they’d line up just to see him, I’d trade in all my money and bought me a museum.” Thirty years later, the boy king, his fellow rulers and their fortunes are back on view in New York—resurrected from their climate-controlled sarcophagi for the Met, the Brooklyn Museum and, in April, for a special exhibition space in Times Square.

Centuries-old vases, Coptic headpieces and golden royal trinkets have begun to arrive to go on display in a trio of warring, would-be audience draws. Why the sudden mummification of New York? Combine a healthy sense of box office competition with children’s love of all things creepy, and you have part of the answer. But there’s a little backstory, too, about the politics that brought King Tutankhamun to New York—but not to either of its two museums known around the world for their Egyptology departments.

First, the story of the king: He ruled in the 18th dynasty, with little distinguishing his short tenure, historians say, save for a move from one god back to many. He died in about 1327 B.C., at age 18 or 19. In recent years, various C.S.I.-like scientific groups have sought to find out why, with murder, a broken leg or malaria being the most common conclusions. In 1922, his tomb—KV62, a phrase still said by Egyptologists with awe—was found, its spectacular contents intact. Decades later, in a blockbuster dreamed up by Richard Nixon in a cold war swipe at the Russians (according to the letters of former Met museum director Thomas Hoving), those treasures toured the U.S. Tut broke all existing records for museum attendance.

But when Egypt proposed a reunion tour in 2004, the Met, surprisingly, balked. The Egyptian government was charging such hefty fees for the loan that the exhibit would have required a separate admission charge above the current “suggested $20.” Philippe de Montebello, director of the Met, passed. Brooklyn demurred, too, in part because, frankly, they don’t need loans, said Eric Bleiberg, curator of the current show there. The museum’s 9,000-strong collection of relics from the region is “an Egyptologist’s candy store,” he notes.

Ohio-based Arts and Exhibitions International, best known for its “Princess Diana: A Celebration” show, nonetheless went forward with a multi-city deal. “We pay the Egyptians a large guarantee and they participate” in the revenues generated by the show, said AEI president John Norman. Egypt’s Antiquities division had said it hopes to garner $40 million from the five-year tour, revenues that will go toward the construction of a museum. At the exhibition, a busy gift shop features “Kooky Mummy Pens” for $4.95”; Indiana Jones–style “explorer” hats; Halloween masks; and three styles of refrigerator magnet. There’s even a private event space for rental. “Party with the Boy King … enjoy themed menus … hold your event at Pharaoh’s Palace,” the exhibition’s marketing material invites.

For years, the tour criss-crossed the country, to Los Angeles, Chicago, Fort Lauderdale, Philadelphia and San Francisco. It looked like New York would be one of the few major cities to miss Tut. But, when The New York Times relocated and a company retrofitted the printing plant to make an exhibition space, AEI found a climate-controlled, 20,000-square-foot home for the show in New York. “King Tut and the Golden Age of the Pharoahs” opens April 23 at the Discovery Center in Times Square. The show, with a $27.50 admission fee for adults, features relics from both other pharaohs and Tut, although not all the same treasures that toured decades ago. (Some don’t leave Egypt anymore.)

Brooklyn says its current show was already in the works when Tut booked Manhattan. But on May 5, it opens a show with two actual mummies (something the “Golden Age” blockbuster conspicuously lacks). And the Met’s “Funeral” exhibition was only announced recently. Mr. Norman said he’s not surprised to find that New York will be flush with Egypt shows. “People get Tut fever,” he said. “We take it as a benefit.” Their shows “will help to create that Egyptomania buzz,” he said. But, “we are the main exhibit.”

What’s Tut’s great drawing power? Antiquities dealer Sam Merrin, owner of his own $1.1 million mummy and sarcophagus (currently on loan to the Houston Museum of Art), explains: “It’s the only royal tomb found intact, and the quality and quantity of material was unheard of. Then, there’s the curse.” Illness struck several people who excavated the site, but whether it was bacteria or posthumous royal fury is still undetermined. Lastly, notes Mr. Merrin, “kids love mummies; they’re spooky.”

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Businessmen and investors from at least 23 countries met this week at the Fourth Cairo Investment Forum to discuss their next move as the global recession begins to wane. The two- day event brought both good and bad news.

According to World Bank (WB) Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) Vice- President Shamshad Akhtar there is enough evidence that the region weathered the economic and financial crisis well, "yet, this should not be a cause for complacency." She added that additional disruptions, like the recent Dubai events, short-term and long-term impacts of the losses emerging from the global financial crisis and the slow convergence of the region's per capita GDP to levels similar to those of higher income countries are all factors that render the region vulnerable.

According to WB statistics, economic growth in MENA fell by 2.6 per cent in 2009 which is significantly less than the four per cent decline observed in the advanced economies thanks to little direct exposure to the epicentre of the shock, which were the toxic assets of financial systems in developed countries and the limited role of private investment in these economies compared to the rest of the world. "This helped minimise the impact of the shock on overall investment," she said.

According to Akhtar, most MENA countries adopted prudent fiscal stances prior to the crisis which helped bring down public debt/GDP ratios. For instance, Egypt's public debt ratio has fallen by almost 20 per cent since 2006, "which gave the country sufficient room for policy manoeuvrability while taking steps to stimulate the economy."

In its attempt to drive out of the dark tunnel, President Hosni Mubarak underlined that Egypt has adopted a stimulus plan to encourage more investment into more diversified infrastructure projects and greater attention has been given to the developmental dimension in the governorates of Upper Egypt. In his speech, delivered on his behalf by Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, Mubarak declared that the government will soon inject more investment in Upper Egypt. Projects include a natural gas pipe extension to Aswan as well as the renovation and establishment of new airports and roads in Upper Egypt. "Assiut airport is now being developed. A new airport in Sohag will be inaugurated and the Upper Egypt-Red Sea road connecting Upper Egypt governorates to the Red Sea ports will soon become operational," said Nazif.

This month, the Egyptian Chemical Industries Company, better known as Kima, in Aswan received its first share of natural gas as the farthest southward destination to where natural gas has so far been transported.

Other projects include the establishment of a new marina in Luxor, medical compounds in Alexandria and 6 October governorates in addition to a number of projects northwest of the Suez Gulf.

According to Mahmoud Mohieldin, minister of investment, these projects will be concluded in full partnership with the private sector. "In order to attract these investments, we have to maintain growth rates above five per cent and keep the budget deficit at round seven per cent of GDP," he said.

Mohieldin indicated that a full package of investment-friendly laws and regulations has been adopted during the past four years to encourage more investment inflows in the country. In addition to dispute settlement mechanism and safe exits from the market, the cabinet will soon be discussing the draft of a new law that will regulate microfinance lending as a step towards encouraging this vital sector to have a more secure and diversified access to finance.

Access to finance tops the list of challenges facing the sector. "It is important to stress the fact that there are at least six million micro- enterprises in the country which statistically represent a large segment of society estimated at no less than 25 million people. It is a huge market and the financial gap in this market is estimated at almost 90 per cent," said Amr Abul-Azm, vice-chairman and CEO of a company providing development services to micro- enterprises. Notably, the SME sector in Egypt contributes at least 70 per cent of the nation's GDP. According to Osama Saleh, chairman of the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI), at least 85 per cent of the companies established during the year fall within the small and medium-size category.

A step on the right direction is the establishment of Bedaya or "The Start" as a small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) service provider that will be entrusted with the task of encouraging these enterprises to start a business development plan, train owners and workers to adopt entrepreneurial skills, help assemble industries in clusters to provide high quality products and finally provide access to finance through banks and companies according to certain regulations that are now being studied by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE).

On the regional front, Egypt has decided to contribute to a $2 billion development initiative that was earlier suggested during an Arab economic and social development summit held in Kuwait last January. The development initiative is mainly aimed at providing required financial resources to SMEs.

An international donors conference hosted by Egypt on Sunday raised $850 million for projects intended to ensure the safe return of nearly 3 million people displaced during the war in Darfur.

The one-day conference in Cairo, co-chaired by Egypt and Turkey, was organized by the 57-nation Organization of The Islamic Conference and included representatives from the U.S., European nations, U.N. agencies and aid groups.

Egypt said the conference highlighted the importance of development in achieving peace and stability in Darfur. It said many participants made unspecified aid pledges on top of the $850 million raised.

"The large participation and the pledges made reflect the wide extent of the international commitment and wish in supporting peace and stability in Darfur," Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said, reading from the meeting's final communique.

To read the full article, please click here.

The one-day conference in Cairo was organized by the 57-nation Organization of The Islamic Conference and included representatives from the U.S., European nations, U.N. agencies and aid groups.

Host Egypt said the conference highlighted the importance of development in achieving peace and stability in Darfur. It said many participants made unspecified aid pledges on top of the dlrs 850 million raised.

"The large participation and the pledges made reflect the wide extent of the international commitment and wish in supporting peace and stability in Darfur," Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said, reading from the meeting's final communique.

"Development in Darfur is the real guarantee to help refugees back to their homes," Aboul Gheit said.

The biggest donors Sunday were Brazil, The Islamic Bank for Development, Qatar and Turkey. Others pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to finance development projects.

The fighting in Darfur, which began with a 2003 rebellion by groups accusing the government of neglecting the western province, has died down over the past year and peace talks are under way in the Gulf state of Qatar. Many of those displaced, however, are still living in camps and their future is one of the central unresolved issues. An estimated 300,000 people lost their lives to violence, disease and displacement.
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OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu told reporters after the meeting that the United States, European countries, Australia and Japan promised generous aid and pledged continued support for the people of Darfur. He gave no figures.

Aboul Gheit said the money raised and pledged will be used to finance development projects in Darfur when peace prevails there and all rebel groups come to agreement with the Sudanese government.

Organizers said they wanted to use the funds for projects in water, health care, housing, education and rural development.

The return of refugees is one of the most contentious issues in the conflict. A majority are displaced within Darfur, but some also fled across the border to neighboring Chad.

Refugees fear the government is forcing their return to their villages or other areas to erase the most sore manifestation of the conflict without actually dealing with the causes of the rebellion.

They also complain that the Sudanese government moved populations around to alter the ethnic makeup of the region. Some refuse to return except to their original villages and not to newly built communities.

Some experts say a change of population centers is inevitable because the return of refugees to their original villages - many of which were torched and destroyed - is inconceivable because of drought and lack of adequate water resources in some cases in the vast, arid region.

Sunday's final communique said participants hoped that the successful peace talks and the signing of cease-fires between the government of Sudan and two rebel groups would be "an incentive for other groups to achieve peace and stability in Darfur."

The peace talks in Qatar have produced cease-fire agreements between the government and one of Darfur's most powerful rebel groups as well as a newly formed umbrella group of smaller rebel factions. Political agreements on the sharing of power and resources are still under discussion.

The Qatar peace conference pledged to start a $1 billion fund for Darfur development.

But the talks have yet to include one of the most influential groups, Sudan's Liberation Movement, which has strong backing among the refugee community.

To read the original article, please click here.

Dr. Tayib was previously a Grand Mufti and most recently served as the President of Al-Azhar University. In total, he has already spent forty years serving in various positions at the institution, which is one of the oldest and most respected schools of Sunni Islam.

President Mubarak remains in the hospital in Heidelberg, where he is making a full recovery from surgery to remove his gall bladder earlier last week. During his stay, he has signed a presidential order authorizing the construction of a Coptic Orthodox church in Helwan Governorate south of Cairo.

President Mubarak also made a number of phone calls, following up on affairs of state with Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif; Dr. Fathi Sorour, President of the People’s Assembly; and Mr. Safwat El-Sherif, President of the Shura Council. He also spoke to the Ministers of Defense, Interior, Foreign Affairs and the Director of Military Intelligence.

In addition, he found time to call H.M King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia to discuss regional developments, as well as Libyan leader Colonel Mouamar Gaddafi.

To see video from Egyptian TV of President Mubarak as he continute to recover, please click here.

More Information on Dr. Al-Tayib:

Professor Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Al-Tayib, was appointed president of Cairo’s Al-Azhar University – the second oldest university in the world and the most influential Sunni institution of higher education, in October 2003. Dr. Al-Tayib leads efforts to promote religious tolerance and reject religious extremism at Egypt’s Al-Azhar University, one of the oldest operating universities in the world. Throughout his tenure, he has opened channels of communication with the West and brought computer labs and internet access to the university.

French educated and a former mufti, Professor Al Tayib has authored many books and textbooks in his field and published many monographs on Islamic themes and contemporary issues. He has also translated several works from French into Arabic, treating the mystical thought of the great Andalusian Sufi, Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi. His great interest in interfaith dialogue has led him to participate in many international conferences, and under his watch, Al-Azhar University hosted several international gatherings dealing with interfaith matters as well as contemporary challenges to Islam.

His long academic career spans more than 40 years at Al-Azhar, as a faculty member and where he earned a Master’s of Philosophy and a Ph.D. He was dean of his department, as well as of several of Al-Azhar colleges around Egypt and at the International Islamic University of Pakistan. Outside Egypt, his teaching career includes several years in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the Emirates, and Pakistan.
 

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk will travel to Egypt next week for talks with a key Arab ally that has long wanted a free trade agreement with the United States. Kirk will meet with Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, Trade and Industry Minister Rachid Mohammed and other Egyptian officials, his office said on Wednesday. The trip follows President Barack Obama's visit last year to Cairo, where he gave a speech aimed at improving U.S. relations with the Muslim world. It comes during a rough patch in U.S.-Israeli relations over Israel's plan to build 1,600 more homes for Jews near East Jerusalem, angering Palestinians.

Kirk has downplayed the possibility of a free trade pact with Egypt, but said earlier this month he wanted to explore other avenues for expanding investment and trade. The two countries signed a strategic partnership plan in May to foster increased economic cooperation. Two-way trade between the two countries was a relatively tiny $7.2 billion last year, with the United States enjoying a rare trade surplus of about $3.2 billion. U.S. trade with Israel last year was $28.3 billion and the United States ran a $9.1 billion deficit.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. - Herbert Kercado, an agricultural specialist for U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Miami, came across a rather interesting shipment a couple of years ago.

It came in a wooden crate which he closely inspected for the presence of beetles and other insect pests which could threaten trees and crops in the U.S. The crate was apparently clean, but its listed contents seemed peculiar: a wooden sarcophagus.

Kercado, a history buff who watches documentaries on TV, did some quick research, he says, "...through the internet. And [I] found out that some items were stolen from Egypt in the past." The ag specialist notified his superior, and an investigation was launched.

Special agent Vince Menditto, with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) caught the case. He was suspicious right away because of the casual way the supposedly-ancient artifact was packed.

"There were no humidity-protection devices inside... There was no acid-free paper," observed the investigator -- just styrofoam peanuts, shredded newspaper, and a felt blanket.

The paperwork trail was a bit hazy also. The 3,000 year old artifact supposedly came from a Spanish museum to an American broker on behalf of a Canadian purchaser. None of the parties could prove the Egyptian government had ever given its permission for removal of this piece of its ancient civilization.

A U.S. judge approved the seizure of the sarcophagus, and competing claims of ownership eventually melted away.

We express our deepest condolences on the passing of Egyptian cleric Sheikh Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi. As the grand sheikh of Al-Azhar University, he was a voice for faith and tolerance who was widely respected in Muslim communities in Egypt and around the globe, and by many who seek to build a world grounded in mutual respect. Sheikh Tantawi graciously hosted President Obama last June in Cairo, and we remember well his hospitality. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and those who mourn him on this day.

I was saddened today to learn of the passing of Grand Imam Mohamed Sayyid Tantawi, the head of al-Azhar University in Cairo.

Imam Tantawi was a highly respected cleric and the leader of one of the most important institutions of Islamic learning in the world. As President Obama said in Cairo last summer, Al-Azhar has stood as a beacon of Islamic learning for over a thousand years, and it continues to play a dynamic role today. Imam Tantawi was an important voice for dialogue among religions and communities. Under his leadership, the university co-hosted the President’s speech laying out a vision for a “New Beginning” between the United States and Muslim communities around the world. And Americans will always remember Imam Tantawi for his condemnations of violence after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, when he said: “It's not courage in any way to kill an innocent person.”

We offer our condolences to the Imam’s family and friends today, as well as his many students in Egypt and in Muslim communities throughout the world.

Egypt's foremost Muslim cleric, Sheikh Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, has died, aged 81, while on a trip to Saudi Arabia.

Sheikh Tantawi was the Grand Imam of the al-Azhar mosque and head of the al-Azhar University, Sunni Islam's centre of learning and scholarship.

He died of a heart attack in the Saudi capital Riyadh, where he was attending a prize-giving ceremony.

Sheikh Tantawi had infuriated radical Islamists with his moderate views on women wearing the veil.

His body will be taken to the Saudi city of Medina, the burial place of the Prophet Muhammad, for burial, Egyptian authorities said.

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As part of President Clinton’s effort to promote peace in the Middle East, he brokered an important trade agreement with Egypt that many believe saved the Egyptian textile industry. The deal established Qualifying Industrial Zones (QIZ), and Haiti now wants its own version of the successful U.S. – Egyptian partnership.

QIZ, which has helped foster Egypt’s textile and readymade garment industries, allows Egypt to export items to the United States duty-free, provided that part of the product includes an Israeli item. The intended result is cooperation between Israel and Arab states and growing industries in Egypt.

Haiti, which doesn’t have a developed export apparel industry, is seeking a similar agreement with the United States, as part of its effort to rebuild after the historic earthquake in January.

To hear the original broadcast, please click here.

In his lecture at the Academy’s Chauvenet 100 Hall, Ambassador Shoukry reiterated Egypt’s commitment to further strengthening its strategic partnership with the US, adding that Egypt brings unique strengths to this partnership with its large valuable human resources, its diverse well-known political and cultural impact on the Middle East, as well as its geo-strategic location and control of the most important waterways in the world. Ambassador Shoukry said that the chances of increasing areas of cooperation and understanding between the two countries were extremely high given the Obama Administration’s efforts to deal with global issues on the basis of dialogue, cooperation and mutual respect.

Ambassador Shoukry highlighted the military-to-military aspects of the Egypt-US relationship, stressing that bilateral military cooperation is strong and diverse. “Being a key partner to the US in the Middle East, Egypt is capable of promoting effectively the shared goals of peace and stability, not only in the immediate region but also in Southwest Asia, the horn of Africa and beyond.” Shoukry concluded that it was therefore natural that Egypt maintain a strong military force to carry out regional responsibilities and assist in defending shared interests.”

The Egyptian Ambassador expressed Egypt’s appreciation for the US military assistance it receives. He stressed that this assistance contributes to the pursuit of a suitable and modernized Egyptian military and bolsters Egypt’s ability to modernize its armed forces, thereby continuing to serve the ultimate goals of peace and stability.

Turning to regional issues, Ambassador Shoukry reaffirmed Egypt’s commitment to achieving comprehensive peace in the Middle East. “We have consistently upheld our peace accord with Israel, and we are re-doubling our efforts to achieve a comprehensive, just and lasting peace for all peoples of the Middle East,” he added. The Ambassador clarified that what Egypt is advocating, through its talks with all the relevant parties, is the need to demonstrate a political will committed to achieving peace, rather than aimless tactical maneuvering that prolongs the suffering of both peoples and forces Palestinians to continue to live under occupation. In Egypt’s view, “the human suffering in Gaza is enormous and unacceptable.”

On the Iranian nuclear issue, the Egyptian Ambassador said that while Egypt supports the international community’s efforts to fully verify the nature of Iran’s nuclear ventures, the question of Israel’s nuclear capabilities and its continuing rejection to accede to the NPT comes to light and needs to be properly addressed. “One standard must apply to all. Israel must adhere fully to the NPT, Iran must cooperate fully with the IAEA; hence a nuclear weapon-free zone in the Middle East becomes a reality.”

Ambassador Shoukry ended his speech by repeating that the US and Egypt are an asset to each other, adding “we will exert our utmost not only to safeguard it, but to lift it to elevated levels for the sake of our nations and peoples.”

The Egyptian Ambassador, who was accompanied by the Egyptian military attaché and Embassy staff, met with the Academy’s Superintendent Vice Admiral Jeffrey Fowler and political science professors at the Academy. All parties expressed a genuine interest in strengthening relations between the Egyptian and US Naval Academies. Ambassador Shoukry invited Vice Admiral Fowler to visit Egypt to explore means of enhancing this cooperation in the near future.

Address by H.E. Sameh Shoukry, Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt at the U.S. Naval Academy
"Egypt - U.S. Relations and Recent Developments in the Middel East"
March 4, 2010

Good evening,

It is my distinct pleasure to be here today among the officers, servicemen and cadets of the United States Navy. Naval forces are traditionally at the front lines in defense of national security, in countering any impending threats and pursuing global security. This is definitely amplified in the case of a global actor like the United States with its most impressive naval capability, not only in terms of hardware but certainly also in the quality, training and commitment that all personnel of the Navy continue to demonstrate.

The young cadets here today are surely the seeds of future American pride, and an addition to the long history of U.S. dedication to realizing global peace and security. I salute you all; and I would like to thank in particular Professor Brannon Wheeler for organizing this wonderful visit.

Let me start by stressing that we are committed to our two countries’ strategic partnership. We have consistently worked on sustaining Egyptian-American relations and remain adamant in our efforts aimed at strengthening it even further. The shared conviction of the central role this relationship plays in our continuing efforts to stabilize the Middle East region has been the main engine behind increased cooperation.

Egypt brings unique strengths to this partnership, with its large valuable human resources, along with its diverse well known political and cultural impact on the Middle East. It’s geo-strategic location and control of one of the most important waterways in the world is also another testament to its value added contribution. In short, the role we continue to assume in the task of addressing tensions and promoting peace indeed provides the U.S. a strong proponent to advance common policies and objectives in the region.

This long-standing relationship has undoubtedly over the years witnessed times of converging views and approaches as regards the necessary means to achieve our common objectives. It also, at other times, had to deal with discrepancies in view or approaches. It is to the benefit of both our countries to have been able to deal with such situations on the basis of mutual respect and a common commitment to the strategic nature of our partnership, and its equally beneficial nature. It is this resilience and depth of our relations that guarantees that we will remain steadfast in our efforts to continue to develop and strengthen the bonds between us.

As the current administration strives to deal with global issues on the basis of dialogue, cooperation and mutual respect, we are greatly optimistic of increasing areas of understanding. In fact, clear indications of an improved bilateral relationship have been evident, with numerous diplomatic exchanges. President’s Obama’s visit to Cairo in June 2009 was a key milestone, along with President Mubarak’s trip to Washington last August, a first in over five years. More recently, the two governments held their annual strategic dialogue.

The choice of Cairo by President Obama to deliver his historic speech to the Arab and Muslim world is highly appreciated. It is a further demonstration of the special relationship that exists between us; as well as a recognition of Egypt’s unique political, economic, social and cultural role in the regional context and beyond. The speech brought enormous hope to the region, and granted a long-awaited desire for a restoration of the historical and deep ties between the two societies. It was also a message that reached out to all arenas of conflict with dialogue and reconciliation from a perspective of moral strength.

We view American interests in the Middle East and beyond as not being limited to the pursuit of securing global energy needs, combating radicalism that may impact the American homeland, or mere economic interests. But, as reflected in President Obama’s Cairo speech, these interests are well grounded in a genuine refocusing of efforts towards a more collaborative world order based on the rule of law and justice. Such policies and objectives are wholeheartedly supported by us.

There is indeed an abundance of common incentives for our two countries to double cooperation and strengthen dialogue in the future. Together, we will both remain engaged in developing relations with a focused eye on safeguarding the long term interests of the region.

I must stress that an essential element in this relationship is the military-to-military cooperation which I would like to briefly address.

As we both face many of the same challenges, it is imperative that cooperation between a world leader and the region’s largest state will contribute in attaining our shared objectives. Being a key partner to the U.S. in the Middle East, Egypt is capable of promoting effectively the shared goals of peace and stability, not only in the immediate region but also in Southwest Asia, the horn of Africa and beyond. It is therefore natural that Egypt should maintain a strong military force to carry out regional responsibilities and assist in defending shared interests.

In that context, U.S. military assistance is highly appreciated, something that contributes to pursuing a suitable, modernized and balanced military. It, in turn, boosts our effectiveness in continuing to serve the ultimate goals of peace and stability. And speaking of modernizing Egyptian forces, it is worthy to note that we are already more than half-way through the modernization plan, continuing to integrate U.S. military equipment as aging weapons are retired. This is a recognized priority so as to increase the synergy between our armed forces there by providing greater effectiveness in fields of cooperation.

Furthermore, an integral part of our military cooperation is training. In preparing our military personnel to operate and maintain U.S. systems, Egypt has sent officers to train at U.S. military institutions. This is definitely key to the professional development of the Egyptian military. In addition, it has created strong ties of personal friendships and mutual understanding of our respective cultures and the commonalities that exist in our value systems.

In addition to that, periodic joint training exercises that have continued for years have enhanced the interoperability and coordination between Egyptian and American armed forces. In that regard, the successive multinational “Bright Star” exercises are very beneficial to all participants as well as the US CENTCOM; as all parties train and learn to operate under challenging circumstances.

Another subset of this military cooperation is the security dimension, with continued intelligence cooperation and a coordinated approach to combating the threat of extremism in the Middle East.

Furthermore, the United States is provided access to vital air and sea routes through Egypt. For example, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, Egypt expedited about 1300 U.S. Naval transits through the Suez Canal, and provided security support for the U.S. ships passing. This, in addition to providing over flight permission to approximately 45,000 military aircrafts.

Indeed, Egypt’s importance is further accentuated as it has a coastline that extends on the Mediterranean and Red seas for almost 4,000 kilometers and controls a strategic waterway, namely the Suez Canal, being of crucial importance to international trade movement as well as strategic sea lifts.

Furthermore, on another field of cooperation to promote mutual security, Egypt and the U.S. are active participants in international peacekeeping operations. Egypt has contributed to peacekeeping operations throughout the world, including Sudan, Mozambique, Angola, Liberia, Rwanda and East Timor; in addition to deploying peacekeeping forces to Somalia and Bosnia to support UN troops and NATO forces.

I must also mention that with regard to Sudan, Egypt is the largest contributor to peacekeeping forces in the UN African Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) as it participates with over 2300 peace keepers in two mechanized infantry battalions, a transportation company, a military engineers company and one signal company.

Military partnership is only one main dimension of our cooperation that revolves around a mutual interest in guaranteeing development and prosperity for the Egyptian population, while ensuring the U.S. an effective partner striving to achieve our common objectives. We are certain that continuing to promote U.S.-Egyptian relations in all its avenues of cooperation will contribute positively to Egypt’s efforts towards political, economic and social development.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Allow me to turn now to provide you with more insight on developments in Egypt. I believe it’s important in a relationship of the magnitude that exists between us that both sides are well aware of achievements, challenges and aspirations that motivate their respective societies. Greater mutual awareness of our distinct circumstances will necessarily contribute to greater levels of understanding, and our ability to define more accurately areas of cooperation.

Egypt has been through tremendous political, economic and social turbulences and volatility during the second half of the last century. Despite having taken both courageous decisions of going to war and making peace to regain our sovereignty over every inch of our land, we have adopted a consistent course so as to provide the Egyptian people the prosperity and advancement they rightly deserve. Indeed, the government has, for more than twenty years now, been applying an ambitious reform program in all fields of life.

We are committed to political pluralism, democratization, freedom of expression, and promoting and protecting human rights. There are currently two dozen political parties in Egypt; and though most have not yet impacted the public, one must note that one-fourth of the Egyptian Parliament is comprised of independent and opposition representatives contributing to a healthy debate and oversight of government policies.

Egypt recognizes the value of the application of the principle of freedom of expression and its positive impact on societal development. It has, therefore, striven to reinforce its position as a major player in the region when it comes to the media with a Press that’s one of the most influential and widely-read.

Over half of Egypt’s 500 newspapers, journals and magazines are privately owned. It is also worthy to note that, unlike some other countries in the region, Egypt does not apply media censorship; hence promoting a wider space for freedom of expression. Egyptian satellite channels reaching out locally as well as to the region and beyond also attest to embracing the value of projecting divergent views in the process of developing national consensus. More than 162,000 of Egyptian citizens are bloggers, comprising 30% of the Arab world’s blogger community. And, the number of Egyptians with access to the internet has been growing at a remarkable pace.

There is also a rising recognition of the importance of promoting and protecting human rights from a governmental and non-governmental perspective. Legislation has been enacted in support of this objective. Enhancing national capacity building is key, raising greater public awareness and enforcing accountability. It is also noteworthy to mention the creation of the National Human Rights Council, headed by the former UN Secretary General Dr. Boutros Ghali, as one non-governmental watchdog, among many others, in the field of human rights that has had a definite impact on policy and public awareness.

Similarly, our commitment to empowering women in all walks of life is clear and have made leaps from the beginning of the 20th century. We are also committed to supporting civil society organizations as important tools for promoting the development of our people.

Having said that, it is important to understand that while political and social reform in Egypt is an ongoing process, it is our belief that dealing with such challenges must be derived from within, from the desire to reform and improve. Such actions are based on each country’s priorities and the value structure defined by each nation’s particular cultural and historical experiences.

Egypt has also developed ambitious economic agendas. U.S. assistance in this area is a source of appreciation having had a very direct impact in improving our economic potential. Continued interest in the promotion of foreign direct investment will provide for the crucially needed economic development, especially in light of the rising challenges to alleviate poverty, cope with a rapidly growing population and compete globally. The socio-economic well-being of our society can be greatly elevated through investing in education, technology and know-how transfer that would upgrade the platform of our human resources. This will ultimately prepare our nations’ youth for the future, helping them to integrate into, rather than be isolated from, a globalized world.

In all these areas, the U.S. has been a valuable partner supporting our capacity-building efforts.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Moving on to the regional situation, one must note that the dynamic relationship between Egypt and the United States is surely not divorced from the regional setting that constitutes an important component in the challenges we both face. So, a demonstration of how our bilateral partnership feeds into the accomplishment of shared regional objectives is warranted.

Egypt is steadfast in its commitment towards peace. It has continued to advocate the benefits that are derived from peace and also prove by example that cooperation and coexistence are the preferred course serving the peoples of the region. We have consistently upheld our peace accord with Israel, and we are re-doubling our efforts to achieve a comprehensive, just and lasting peace for all peoples of the Middle East.

The first issue that starkly confronts us in any analysis of the regional strife is undoubtedly its central core conflict: the Palestinian question. This unresolved issue has been festering for decades, deteriorating to greater and more dangerous magnitudes, adversely influencing other open conflicts in the region today. Whether in Iraq, Afghanistan, the situation in Lebanon or Iran, along with the challenges posed by extremism, the numerous crises in the Middle East are related to the Palestinian quest for justice and peace.

One may wonder how this one issue can be of such impact, yet the undeniable reality is that this conflict shapes the perception of Arabs and Muslims towards the West, and the U.S in particular. Without extracting a comprehensive just peace, this conflict will continue to serve the interests of those who seek to incite many around the region and the globe.

To that end, Egypt remains committed to pursuing a final lasting viable peace for both the Palestinians and the Israelis. The framework of such peace leading to a Palestinian state is not new, as the general structure of the solution is well known to the parties. Following many years of peace talks and negotiations, the main outline of a final settlement revolves around the following: that the border of the Palestinian state will be the June 1967 line, with minor land swaps agreed between both sides. Certain arrangements will have to be made on the Palestinian side to accommodate Israel’s security concerns and provide the security guarantees needed. Jerusalem will be the capital of both states; and finally there has to be a just settlement to the plight of the Palestinian refugees.

We are committed to the two-state solution as the political horizon of peace negotiations. The international community, including the U.S., fully supports this as the only credible means to bringing about peace and justice to the region. Nevertheless, the window of opportunity to fulfill this aspiration is continuing to close. The consequences will certainly adversely affect both the Israeli and Palestinian peoples, in addition to the states of the region and beyond.

Continued Israeli settlement activity in the occupied territories along with the separation wall, with its consumption of vast Palestinian land, erodes the very essence of the two-state solution.

What Egypt is advocating, through its talks with all the relevant parties, is the need to demonstrate a political will committed to achieving peace rather than aimless tactical maneuvering that prolongs the suffering of both people and forces Palestinians to continue to live under occupation.

We are well aware of the intricate and complicated nature of the political situation as relates to the pursuit of peace. This can only be overcome by the mutual recognition of both parties – Israelis and Palestinians – that the courageous compromises and flexibilities necessary to make peace contribute equally in providing a brighter future for generations to come.

And, though we believe that the political resolution of the conflict should be achieved today before tomorrow, we recognize that further efforts must continue by Egypt, the U.S. and the international community to assist the parties. Yet, at the same time, the tragic humanitarian conditions faced by the Palestinian population under occupation must be immediately addressed.

Conditions in the West bank are still bleak, despite recent relative improvement, which is limited in view of the low base of comparison. The human suffering in Gaza is enormous and unacceptable.

We remain cognizant of the far-reaching effects of this conflict, and continue to place it at the forefront of our dialogue with the US, which we look to its leadership and ability to assist the parties in undertaking the necessary courageous steps to achieve the needed peace.

As to the other regional hurdles, it is our belief that these are a reflection of a wider conflict among a number of regional and international actors and their conflicting interests. An open dialogue and cooperation in defining a course of action with this Administration continues on all these issues:

In Iraq, territorial integrity and stability is key. On our part, we are pursuing momentum in Egyptian-Iraqi bilateral relations. And, as the U.S. continues to complete its withdrawal plan, it is vital that every effort is exerted to avoid any deterioration of security in Iraq. The prime challenge is to deflect any political vacuum, rising sectarian strife and disintegration; all of which would have direct adverse consequences on the overall stability of the region and beyond.

Also, in Afghanistan, Egypt is closely engaged with the US and many other international partners to assist in alleviating the dire economic and social conditions there, and in confronting the roots of extremism.

Along with the challenge of the Iranian nuclear issue, the efforts by Tehran to expand its influence over the region is of great concern to us. Let me make this clear: while supporting the international community’s efforts to verify fully the nature of Iran’s nuclear ventures, the question of Israel’s nuclear capabilities and its continuing rejection to accede to the NPT comes to light and needs to be properly addressed, for one standard must apply to all. Israel must adhere fully to the NPT, Iran must cooperate fully with the IAEA; hence a nuclear weapon-free zone in the Middle East becomes a reality.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

To conclude, I would like to say that our aim, through cooperating with the United States, is to create a peaceful regional and international environment focusing on achieving stability and the prosperity of the people. We will continue to work to create a platform of mutual cooperation that involves Egypt and like-minded countries of the region, in order to confront all challenges.

The pivotal role that Egypt assumes as a regional leader grants the U.S. an effective partner able to deliver; one that would move forward with it. Through embarking on all avenues of cooperation, I am confident that the true potential of the Middle East will be realized, especially that we see many positive elements which can be harnessed towards creating what the region deserves.

Each — the U.S. and Egypt — is an asset to the other. We are proud of this relationship, and will exert our utmost not only to safeguard it, but to lift it to elevated levels for the sake of our nations and peoples.

Thank you…

Loula Zaklama, a highly sought after advertising pioneer, Neveen El Tahri, chairperson and managing director of Delta Holding for Financial Investments, Sisters Hind and Nadia Wassef and Nihal Schawky, founding partners of successful bookstore chain Diwan, are five of the most prominent entrepreneurial women in Egypt. In an interview with Business Today, they reflect on their success and discuss why more women haven’t reached the upper echelons of the corporate world.

“It was very, very hard but it never occurred to me that I was going to be able to work or succeed,” says Zaklama. Five decades after she got started in advertising, Zaklama is still an outlier. Only 15% of private sector workers are female. Women make up just one in five small-or medium-sized business owners; in Western countries, the ratio is close to half. In Egypt, women need not look far to be reminded of their traditional roles. In the business community, the gender contrasts are emphasized even further.

El Safar explains that the stigma facing women manifests itself in unexpected ways. She cites difficulties getting loans for business start-ups as a prime example. Pressure on ambitious women is different than on their male counterparts, she says, and there are psychological barriers that need to be overcome along with more tangible obstacles. The gravity associated with requesting large loans often leads women to ask for less than their male colleagues might, she says.

But these entrepreneurial women do not seem phased by the things that set them apart from the men; in fact, they see them as an advantage. El Tahri believes that such differences are what make women more dedicated and eager to prove themselves. “I think it is part of our DNA and how we were brought up,” she says, explaining that from childhood girls are accustomed to gender disparities and that instills in them a drive to prove their capacity for success.

To read the entire article please click here.

For Muslims, peaceful coexistence is an obligation rather than a matter of choice. Prophet Muhammad was not only encouraged to engage the followers of Islam, Judaism and Christianity — the three monotheistic religions - in meaningful dialogue; he was commanded to do so.

This week in Washington, leaders of different Muslim and Christian faiths came together to discuss reconciliation between Islam and the Christian West at the Christian-Muslim Summit. I was honored to be a part of this dialogue and to join a myriad voices, from eminent religious leaders to the general public, to discuss ways to work together to promote peace efforts worldwide.

The 2007 open letter signed by 138 Muslim leaders, "A Common Word," has paved the way towards better understanding of religious diversity amongst Muslims. It opens with a line that best summarizes the Islamic position on interfaith dialogue: "Call unto the way of your Lord with wisdom and fair exhortation, and contend with them in the fairest way." (Ayah 125 of Surat Al-Nahl).

The Qur'anic command is also very clear on this topic: "Say: O People of the Book: Come to an agreement between us and you, that we worship none but God, and that we shall ascribe no partners to Him, and that none of us shall take others for lords beside God. And if they decline (your invitation for dialogue), then say: Bear witness that we shall (continue to) submit to God in Islam" (Al-Imran: 64). According to the Qur'an, interfaith dialogue should be proactively initiated by Muslims.

Read the full article here.

Arab foreign ministers meeting in Cairo have agreed to support a U.S. proposal for indirect peace talks between Palestinians and Israelis.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told reporters Wednesday that members of the Arab League will back the talks for a period of four months.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is attending the Cairo meeting, has said he would abide by the Arab League's decision.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also welcomed the decision.

Read the full article here.

The fields along the Nile basin have supplied Egypt with an abundance of food for centuries, providing farmers with enough expertise to know how to grow the land properly. But that’s not the case for many of Egypt’s neighbors.

Egypt is well placed to help countries across Africa that struggle to feed their people, since it is rich in food supplies.

Poverty and food scarcity are crucial problems facing African nations, which is why leaders of the African Union met recently and approved a joint plan of action to enhance food security.

Only 4 percent of arable land in Africa and the Arab world is irrigated, leaving many countries to rely on rainfall for water. By comparison, Egypt has one of the oldest irrigation systems in the world and its vast experience has been sought out to help its African neighbors.

To view the original broadcast, please click here.

The Prime Minister called on the members of the chamber to highlight the strength of the Egyptian economy and its success in withstanding the effects of the global financial crisis. He said the Egyptian economy had achieved a growth rate of 5 per cent, in spite of the crisis.

Cabinet Spokesman Dr. Magdy Radi said the assignment of the door- knocking mission comes within the framework of efforts by the American Chambers of Commerce to interact with the US market.

He said the meeting addressed a number of important issues, such as the state of the Egyptian economy and the global economic crisis impact.

Radi said the Prime Minister asked the members of the chamber to convey to the US side a number of messages: that the Egyptian economy had overcome the global financial crisis, and that investors were confident in the Egyptian economic performance. The Prime Minister told the members of the chamber that the Egyptian government was keen to bring about a qualitative development of relations between Egypt and the US administration.

Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Barra calculates global stock market ratings for every country in its All Country World Index (ACWI), and includes Egypt in MSCI’s Emerging Market (EM) Index. The MSCI EM Index is a free-float weighted equity index; its 0.9 percent rise on Friday compared to only 0.4 percent increase seen by the MSCI World Index of securities from 23 developed countries.

Egypt’s upgrade follows a streak of optimism for emerging markets, although Michael Ganske, head of emerging-market research at Commerzbank AG in London, advised caution.

“Emerging markets are a strong, structural story… [But] today’s movement is a reaction to the market being quite depressed over the past couple of days. We are facing a period of higher volatility rather than a long-term, sustained rally,” Bloomberg quoted Ganske.

Read the full article here.

By Ahmed el-Beheri

President Hosni Mubarak criticized conferences on inter-religious dialogue in other countries, saying that because such conferences take place "behind closed doors, they don't reach the hearts and minds of the public."

The president's comments were part of a speech given on his behalf by Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif at the inaugural session of the 22nd International Islamic Conference of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, entitled "The Objectives of the Islamic Sharia and Contemporary Issues."

In his speech, Nazif mentioned several thoughts by President Mubarak on the subject of religious extremism and tolerance:

People from other religions misunderstand Islam, so Islamic scholars must double their efforts to promote the real image of Islam and Muslims;

The president renews calls for "an enlightened religious discourse based on tolerance and acceptance of others;”
Muslims are in need of an educational system and media outlets that embody these values;"

To read the original article, please click here.

Minister of Industry and Trade Rachid Mohamed Rachid on Wednesday welcomed steps by authorities to institute a commercial code of ethics in Egyptian trade circles.

“The present environment fails to grant respectable traders the honor they deserve,” Rachid told members of the administrative council of the Cairo Chamber of Commerce. “We, as a government, have a role to play in changing this reality. But traders themselves are an important part as well, through their commitment to the code of ethics."

Rachid emphasized the government “seeks to shatter symbols of corruption and expel those violating the honor of the trade community” in an effort to “purge” the system of “dishonorable” traders.

Read the full article here.

Egypt’s first Public-Private Partnership (PPP) venture is on track to be completed in 2012, announced the Egyptian Ministry of Finance and the International Finance Corporation (IFC). The IFC hopes to finance five such projects in Egypt, and the first PPP venture will see the construction of an approximately $150 million wastewater facility on the outskirts of Cairo.

In May 2009, the government closed the international bidding for the project and awarded it to Orasqualia, a consortium between Egypt's Orascom Construction Industries and Spain's Aqualia and Aqualia Infrastructure.

With a capacity of 250,000 m3 the facility is expected to satisfy the sanitation needs of the growing settlements of New Cairo. The current population of New Cairo is 500,000 and is expected to increase to 3.8 million by 2029.

"We are actively working to collaborate with the private sector to meet the growing infrastructure demands in Egypt. This project is an important step towards setting the stage for future PPPs," said Rania Zayed, head of the PPP Central Unit at Egypt's Ministry of Finance.

To read the original article, please click here.

Egypt’s national security, understood comprehensively, is my primary responsibility, and I will accept neither complacency nor half-measures in regards to it.

We live in an unstable world, and a difficult region. It would be a mistake to ignore the growing ring of instability extending from Afghanistan and Pakistan, through Iran, Iraq and Yemen, and to Somalia and Sudan.

It would be a mistake to ignore the growing tides of sectarianism in the Arab & African regions and the world as a whole, nor attempts to ignite discord between the people of one nation such as demands for quotas, incidents of violence and bloodshed, and attempts to use foreign powers for domestic leverage; and external interferences that fuels fires, and which act according to their own interests and agendas.

The criminal attack in Nagaa Hamaady has shaken the nation’s conscience, shocked our sensibilities, and pained the hearts of Muslim and Coptic Egyptians.

Notwithstanding the execution of my orders to quickly capture the perpetrators, and refer them to the Emergency State Security Court, this horrific incident against the Copts on the Christmas Eve demands that all of us, Muslims and Copts, take a serious and forthright stand with ourselves.

I have received numerous reports from state agencies, and fact finding missions, which lay out the details of this sinful attack, including its background, details, and possible motives.

I, as President of the Republic, and of all Egyptians, warn against the dangers of undermining the unity of our people, and of conflict between its Muslims and Copts, and I state, in the clearest possible terms, that I will not be lenient with those, from either side, who attempt to undermine it or show contempt for it.

I was commander of the Air College in 1968, when Israeli warplanes bombed Nagaa Hammadi, and destroyed the Qena bridge. On that day, there was no difference between the blood of a Muslim and a Christian among the victims of that aggression. When we fought the October War, the people of Egypt, from all sides, sacrificed their blood and lives, and lifted the Egyptian flag over Sinai.

We are witnessing incidents and phenomena that are alien to our society, driving it to ignorance and fanaticism, and fed by the absence of an enlightened religious discourse from the men of Al-Azhar and the Church.

A religious discourse that must be supported by our educational system, our media, and our writers and thinkers; One that confirms the values of citizenship, that religion belongs to God, and the nation belongs to all; One that promotes the understanding that religion is a matter between a human and his Lord, and that Muslim and Christian Egyptians are partners in one nation, and that they are faced with the same difficulties, and that they share the same aspirations for a better future for themselves, their children, and grandchildren.

This is a necessary and vital role that must be played by the wise and the reasoned of our nation from all sides; One that confronts sectarian incitement, contains extremism, and which strives to build an advanced Egyptian society and modern and civil state; One which calls upon Muslims and Copts to strive to build schools and hospitals, assist the poor, and serve the nation.

The normal frictions of the daily lives of citizens, if they should develop a sectarian dimension, become a time bomb that ignites discord, undermines both pillars of the nation, and harms the image of our society, opening the door to foreign attempts, which we refuse, to interfere in purely Egyptian affairs that concern the children of a single family, and single Egyptian society.

To both wings of our society, I say, in the clearest possible terms, that we shall confront any sectarian crimes, acts or behaviors with the force and resolve of the law, with swift and effective justice, and stern sentences that will impose the severest penalties against their perpetrators and inciters, and which will deter those who make light of the security of our nation and the unity of its people.

Egypt's antiquities chief on Thursday unveiled the completion of an 8-year, $14.5 million restoration of the world's oldest Christian monastery, touting it as a sign of Christian-Muslim coexistence.

The announcement at the 1,600-year-old St. Anthony's Monastery came a month after Egypt's worst incident of sectarian violence in over a decade, when a shooting on a church on Orthodox Christmas Eve killed seven people.
The attack raised heavy criticism of the Egyptian government abroad and at home, by critics who say it has not done enough to address tensions between the country's Muslim majority and its Christian population, estimated at 10 percent of the 79 million population.

The government insists the shooting was a purely criminal act with no sectarian motives, and officials persistently deny the existence of significant Muslim-Christian frictions.

Top archaeologist Zahi Hawass took the opportunity to reiterate that stance as he showed journalists the work at St. Anthony's, an ancient compound at the foot of the desert mountains near Egypt's Red Sea coast.

Read the full article here.

The Egyptian holiday resort of Sharm el-Sheikh intends to slash its carbon emissions in the next decade to woo a growing class of eco-tourists, a senior government official who heads the $238 million project says.

Tourism is a crucial source of foreign currency and jobs in Egypt, accounting for about 11 percent of GDP.

"Tourists will pick places that are environmentally friendly and taking positive steps to reduce their carbon emissions," said Hisham Zaazou, a top official at the Tourism Ministry.

The plan is to introduce renewable energy schemes, cut water use and improve waste management to boost the environmental credentials of a resort where sprawling concrete hotel complexes have sprung up in recent decades.
Zaazou said the project would cost about 3 percent of the resort's annual revenues and the aim was for private investors to meet 48 percent of this.

"We are trying to entice the private sector to move in this direction," he said. He also added that several banks had indicated they would help with finance and some hotels were looking at putting in place energy saving schemes in their complexes.

To read the original article, please click here.
 

Egypt's economy will continue to defy headwinds from the developed world this year, helped by a strong consumer and banking sector and by sustained inward investment, Trade and Industry Minister Rachid Mohamad Rachid said Wednesday.

One of Africa's largest economies, Egypt managed to grow by 4.5% in 2009, a year when Europe and most of the developed world suffered its worst recession in 60 years, and Rachid said the government expects growth to quicken to 5% this year and 7% in 2011.

Rachid also said that the government is keen to attract more investment in renewable energy, especially wind power along the Red Sea coast in the east of the country--"one of the best natural wind tunnels in the world," as he described it.

Egypt, whose production of natural gas has trebled in the last decade, has set itself the target of sourcing 20% of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2020.

To read the original article, please click here.

Egyptian Minister of Electricity and Energy Hassan Yunis said Friday Egypt and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) would soon hammer out a framework deal for a 200 megawatts wind farm at the Gulf of Suez region in Egypt.

Egypt's New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) and the UAE's state-owned Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company will be involved in the project, he added.

Egypt has already allowed the private sector to launch the first private wind farm project in Egypt with a capacity of 250 megawatts under the building, operating and transferring (BOT) system, he said.

The electricity sector in the country has taken all guarantees to ensure successful investment in wind farms, the minister added.

He expected Egypt's wind capacity to reach 7,200 megawatts by 2020.

To read the original article, please click here.
 

Fatakat, the first and largest of Egypt’s Internet forums geared to women has become a forum where friends share conversation and discourse on topics that range from modern Egyptian home-life to politics. It has been reported to be the second most-visited site in Egypt in 2009, according to Ratteb, a statistical source for Arabic websites.

Attracting the site's 180,000 members are Fatakat's 256,500 topics related to women, and the site has clocked up some five million visits since it went online in July 2007. Today, Fatakat attracts some 150,000 hits daily. The site aims to be for women "who have various experiences and knowledge that have enabled them to solve problems," Riri, co-founder of Fatakat, says.

Above all, for Riri the site is intended as an information platform for its members and a place where they can share stories and experiences, whether marital, financial, professional or parental. "[Members] teach each other foreign languages, recite the Quran and practise hobbies and handicrafts," she says.

Though all the members of the site have nicknames, many of them also know each other personally. "Some of our members visited my mother when she was in hospital last week. There is a good spirit among members, and I sometimes feel that Fatakat is like one big family," The Reality, a 21-year-old member of the site says.

To read the original article, please click here.

The initiative to boost use of Arabic on the Web was launched on Monday following the domain name registration, which opened the Internet to millions of Arabic speakers put off by a language barrier.

Analysts say Arabic is just 1 per cent of Web content.

Egypt, the first of nine Arab countries to have registered so far, has adopted the domain name .misr -- the Arabic word for Egypt and which will be spelt in Arabic script.

Read the full article here.

The two-day gathering focused on finding ways to build on the momentum and goodwill  generated by the speech that US President Barack Obama delivered in Cairo in June in which he  sought “a new beginning” in relations between the United States and Muslims. The long-term aim  of the Forum is “to contribute to accelerating the integration of the Arab world into the global  economy,” explained Claude Smadja, President, Smadja & Associates, Switzerland and cofounder  of the Arab Global Forum.

Through discussions and debates during several highly interactive sessions, participants identified  key areas on which the private sector can focus. Among them: education, the promotion of technology and communications especially the Internet, the expansion of microfinance, and the development of the rule of law particularly through judicial reform.
On education, participants put forward proposals to increase youth exchange programs and improve the quality of teaching in the Arab world. The goal is to provide adequate training for the growing ranks of young people in the region so that they are able to find employment.

“The demographic explosion is the single greatest threat to Arab prosperity and well-being,” warned Judith Kipper, Director, Middle East Programs, Institute of World Affairs, United States, in the closing plenary. “The answer is education.” Speaking in a morning session, Jeffrey D. Feltman, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, said: “If this rising generation can acquire the tools to achieve their potential, then they can be a powerful force not just for growth but also for good.”

In a keynote address earlier in the day, US Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, the only Arab-American member of President Obama’s Cabinet, told participants that the US is ready to reach out to the international community, including the Arab world. “We will continue to work with any country to do all that we can to collaborate together,” LaHood said. “We want to build bridges and share expertise.” LaHood urged business leaders impatient for concrete results following President Obama’s Cairo speech to “be patient” and “stay tuned.”

The next Arab Global Forum will take place in the Middle East in June 2010. The Forum’s US meeting will be held in the first week of December next year in Washington, DC. Said Smadja: This is a process, not a one-shot event.”

Please click here to visit the Arab Global Forum website.

The Arab Global Forum will take place December 7-8, 2009, in Washington, D.C. This groundbreaking event will bring together Arab business leaders, along with experts, policy-makers and senior executives of international corporations with direct involvement or keen interest in the Arab region to lay the foundations for expanding business and economic cooperation.

Today, the Arab world countries represent a total GDP of about 2.5 trillion U.S. dollars. Under the theme, “The Arab World in a New Global Context: Challenges, Choices and Opportunities,” this first meeting of the Arab Global Forum will look into changes in the region and at emerging business forces in the Arab World.

Shafik Gabr, the founder and convener of the conference, is not only a prominent Egyptian investor and philanthropist, but also a man with a vision for his country and the Arab world. The level of hope and energy President Obama injected into the region last June has been astounding, and Shafik wants both Americans and Arabs to harness that energy into concrete action.

On Wednesday, December 2, Shafik did a live interview with FoxBusiness where he discussed the current stock market crisis in Dubai and how it impacts investment in the Middle East.

Come learn about Egypt during an information display at the Rayburn House Office. There will be posters with facts about Egypt, as part of the Egyptian Press & Information Office's 100 Facts campaign. You can also peruse the Press Office's new Web site, www.modernegypt.info, or sign-up to receive updates and e-alerts about Egypt.

The Rayburn House Office Building is located southwest of the Capitol, between Independence Avenue and South Capitol Street and First Street and C Street, S.W. The display will be in the foyer of the first floor.

Minister of Communications and Information Technology Dr. Tarek Kamel and Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Dr. Hani Helal announced today that Egypt had signed up to acquire the first Arabic domain name suffixed ".misr.”

According to Kamel, Egypt is the first Arab nation to apply for a non-Latin character domain. The effort is part of a broader push to expand both access and content in developing nations, where the Internet remains out of reach for wide swaths of the population. Domain names ended by “.misr” will then be available on search engines for internet users to find.

"It is a great moment for us," Kamel said of the domain name, which translates as ".Egypt".

The registering of the domain "will offer new avenues for innovation, investment and growth, and hence we can truly and gladly say ... the Internet now speaks Arabic," Kamel said at the start of the Internet Governance Forum — a U.N. - sponsored gathering that drew Net legends like Yahoo Inc.'s Jerry Yang and Tim Berners-Lee, known as one of the Internet's founding fathers.

The new domains stem from a decision taken at the end of October by the board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, a key Internet oversight agency, to develop a "fast-track" mechanism for domain names in languages such as Chinese, Korean, Arabic and others that do not use the Latin alphabet.

Yang said that while there are over 300 million Arabic speakers in the world, less than 1 percent of the content online is in Arabic.

The challenge "isn't just about getting as many people online as possible, but making sure that once they get online, they have something productive to do, something to gain, something meaningful to experience."

To read the November 15th AP article, please click here.

To read the press release put out by the Egypt Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, please click here.

Cairo, Egypt -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said last Wednesday she took on the "complicated and difficult" task of trying to restart talks on Israeli-Palestinian peace during her talks with Egypt's leaders.

Egypt is "an essential partner" in that effort, she said.

"President Obama, special envoy [George] Mitchell -- who is here with me today -- and I are all deeply and personally committed to achieving a two-state solution and comprehensive peace between Israelis, Palestinians and all of their Arab neighbors," Clinton said at a joint news conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Ali Aboul Gheit.

Clinton met with Aboul Gheit and other Egyptian leaders before consulting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. She said she felt "very satisfied by what we accomplished on this trip" despite the complex issues at hand.

Sharif Kamal Shahin, a diplomat with 27 years' experience and a former ambassador to Zambia, arrived in Iraq on Friday, the source said.

Egypt's foreign ministry spokesman has described the move as an "important step to promote relations between the two Arab countries."

Read the full article here.

"The Islam that we were taught in our youth is a religion that calls for peace and mercy. The first prophetic saying that is taught to a student of Islam is "Those who show mercy are shown mercy by the All-Merciful. Show mercy to those who are on earth and the One in the heavens will show mercy to you. What we have learnt about Islam has been taken from the clear, pristine, and scholarly understanding of the Quran, "O people we have created you from a single male and female and divided you into nations and tribes so that you may know one another." When God said "to know one another" He did not mean in order to kill one another. All religions have forbidden the killing of innocents. To kill an innocent human being is tantamount to killing the entire humanity.

"Let me be clear by reiterating that Islam is utterly against extremism and terrorism but unless we understand the factors that provide a rationalization for terrorism and extremism we will never be able to eradicate this scourge. This must be understood in order to build a better future that can bring an end to this grave situation that is destroying the world.

"My heart, my thoughts, and my prayers go out to the families who lost their loved ones. We offer our deepest and sincerest condolences to the families of the victims and pray for a speedy recovery of the wounded. We demand the perpetrator to be brought to justice and stand the trial.

Click here to read the rest of the article

“Human Rights, Democracy & Legislative Reforms: A Vision From Egypt” 

Sponsored by:
Georgetown University’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies
Wednesday, November 4, 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
CCAS Boardroom, ICC 241

Please join us for a lecture by H.E. Dr. Ahmed Fathi Sorour, President of the People's Assembly of Egypt, which will focus on political reform in support of human rights and democracy in Egypt from past to present to future.

Dr. Sorour is the President of the People's Assembly of Egypt, one of the two houses that constitute Egypt's parliament. Throughout his career he has held many distinguished positions, including that of Minister of Education, President of the Supreme Council of Universities and several high-level administrative roles at Cairo University.

He obtained his PhD in Criminal Law from Cairo University, his LLM from the University of Michigan, and his BS from Cairo University. Dr. Fathi Sorour is the President of the Egyptian People's Assembly, one of the two houses that constitute Egypt's parliament.

To attend this event, please RSVP here.

Contact:

Center for Contemporary Arab Studies

E-mail: ccasevents@georgetown.edu

The race is being organized under the direction of First Lady Suzanne Mubarak and supported by different organizations from Egypt and the U.S. Breast cancer advocates from the U.S. and the Middle East will gather in Egypt to increase breast cancer awareness throughout the region.

Dr. Mohamed Shaalan, chairman of the Breast Cancer Foundation in Egypt, said “the week’s events are a demonstration of the cooperation between countries, governments, civil society, advocates, survivors and the global community as a whole. It shows that breast cancer has no boundaries and reveals the beauty of the world’s unity in its fight against breast cancer …”

A series of events will take place during the week of October 21-27, including the training and commemorations in Alexandria on October 21-22 and the University of Florida’s Multidisciplinary Symposium on Breast Cancer Disease on October 24-27.

To read the full text of the article, please click here.

Egypt's GB Auto will form a subsidiary to help buyers purchase on credit vehicles from India's Bajaj a move that would allow GB to expand sales among lower income groups, GB said on Thursday.

The venture would acquire Bajaj-branded motorcycles and threewheelers (tuk tuks) already imported and assembled by GB Auto and allow them to be sold to consumers unable to obtain mainstream financing, the company said in a statement.

"This venture will bring GB Auto products to new customers and address a gap in available credit that is restricting sales in a fast-growing line of business," Chief Executive Officer Raouf Ghabbour said in the statement.

GB Auto, Egypt's biggest listed automobile maker and assembler, said motorcycle and threewheeler sales totaled 500 million Egyptian pounds ($91.3 million) in 2008 and would more than double over the next three years.

Threewheelers made by Bajaj hold a 95 percent market share of such vehicles sold in Egypt and its motorcycles account for one of every four motorcycles sold in the most populous Arab country.

Read the article here.

United Arab Emirates-based Dana Gas said on Tuesday it had made two gas finds in Egypt with reserves totaling an estimated 86 billion cubic feet.

The gas was located in Faraskur-1 and Marzouk-2 in one of its concessions in the Egyptian Nile Delta, the company said in a statement.

"The discoveries at the Marzouk-2 and Faraskur-1 wells represent the eighth and ninth discoveries from our 2008-09 drilling campaign in the Nile Delta," said Chief Executive Ahmed al-Arbeed.

"The ... drilling campaign is continuing to yield very positive results, boosting Dana Gas' production and profitability," he added.

The Faraskur-1 discovery, which is alone expected to add up to 73 billion cubic feet to the company's Egyptian reserves, is located in the West El Manzala Concession, the statement said.

Dana Gas, which relies on Egypt for the bulk of its income, said last year that it planned to invest about $500 million in Egypt and Iraq's Kurdish region in 2009 to boost natural gas output.

To read the full article, please click here.

Dr. Gomaa is one of the world’s preeminent scholars of Islamic Law. He presides over the Dar Al Ifta, Egypt’s supreme body for Islamic legal edicts, advising Muslims on how to abide by their faith in an enlightened manner while dealing with the changing circumstances of a modern world. This week he is visiting Washington D.C. to attend a meeting of the Common Word, a global initiative to explore and promote the common ground between two great faiths: Christianity and Islam.

To read the full piece in the Wall Street Journal, click here.

Islam, Israel and the United States

Peace among the Abrahamic faiths will be built on respect and the law.

By SHEIKH ALI GOMAA, WSJ, 10/8/09

America and the West have been victims of violent extremists acting in the name of Islam, the tragic events of 9/11 being only the most egregious of their attacks. Western officials and commentators are consumed by the question, "Where are the moderates?" Many, seeing only the extremism perpetuated by a radical few, despair of finding progressive and peaceful partners of standing in the Muslim world.

However, reconciling Islam with modernity has been an imperative for Muslims before it became a preoccupation for the West. In particular, the process dates back to the 19th century, when what became known as the Islamic reform movement was born in Al Azhar University in Cairo, Islam's premiere institution of learning.

At the Dar al Iftaa, Egypt's supreme body for Islamic legal edicts over which I preside, we wrestle constantly with the issue of applying Islam to the modern world. We issue thousands of fatwas or authoritative legal edicts—for example affirming the right of women to dignity, education and employment, and to hold political office, and condemning violence against them. We have upheld the right of freedom of conscience, and of freedom of expression within the bounds of common decency. We have promoted the common ground that exists between Islam, Christianity and Judaism. We have underscored that governance must be based on justice and popular sovereignty. We are committed to human liberty within the bounds of Islamic law. Nonetheless, we must make more tangible progress on these and other issues.

Yet, just as we recommit to reinforcing the values of moderation in our faith, we look to the United States to assume its responsibility for the sake of a better relationship between the West and Islam.

First, it is essential that the U.S. confront the fear and misunderstanding that has often pervaded the public discourse about Islam, especially in the media.

Second, while we must strive to reinforce the common principles that we share, we must also accept the reality of differences in our values and in our outlook. Islam and the West have distinct value systems. Respect for our differences is a foundation for coexistence, and never for conflict.

Finally, there must a true commitment to the rule of law, and to sovereign equality, as the legitimate basis for international relations. While some of the divide between Islam and the West lies in the realm of ideas, it lies mostly in the realm of politics. The violence and the aggression to which many Muslim countries have been subjected are the main sources of a deep and legitimate sense of grievance, and they must be addressed.

Israel's occupation of Palestine must be brought to an end; its continuation is an affront to the fundamental tenets of justice and freedom that we all seek to uphold. In Iraq and Afghanistan, full sovereignty and independence must be restored to their people with the withdrawal of all foreign forces. President Barack Obama's historic address to the Muslim world from Cairo on June 4 was a landmark event that opened the door to a new relationship between Islam and the West, precisely because it acknowledged these imperatives. Yet much work needs to be done by both sides.

WASHINGTON – Yesterday, in an event entitled, "The Challenge of Moderation in Islam: Egypt's Religious Institution Versus Extremism" the Grand Mufti of Egypt Dr. Ali Gomaa told a crowd of roughly 100 people that radicalism has no place in Islam. The event was co-sponsored by the Middle East Studies program at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies and the Religion and Peacemaking program at the U.S. Institute of Peace.

At the event, the Grand Mufti stressed the importance of understanding the true nature of Islam – a religion based on principles of peace, respect and moderation. He referenced the ease with which people can take messages from the Koran out of context, often interpreting these hallowed principles to mean the exact opposite of their original objective. He also answered questions on ways to promote moderation in Islam, how to combat terrorism and extremism in Islam and the Muslim viewpoint of terrorism and the West in a post-9/11 world.

Dr. Gomaa spoke about Egypt’s experience in fighting terrorism since the assassination of the late President Anwar Sadat in 1981, describing a two-pronged strategy; religious leaders work to rehabilitate violent extremists while public campaigns are mounted to deny religious legitimacy to extremist ideology and acts of violence.

The Grand Mufti said in his speech, “I’m here to express myself and to state (these) realities that I know to be true and which I have written a great deal about, and I do this to get rid of a lot of the misconceptions that may be around about Islam and its realities so that we can together move forward and enter into true relations and dialogue between the East and the West.”

Sheikh Gomaa continued to say, “The common ground that is shared between us is that we must respect human beings for their humanity. And for that reason we call to peace, and to rejecting and eradicating violence, and to rejecting and eradicating extremism.”

In today’s Wall Street Journal, Sheikh Gomaa writes that Muslims must “recommit to reinforcing the values of moderation in our faith” and called for the U.S. to “assume its responsibility for the sake of a better relationship between the West and Islam.”

The Grand Mufti is in Washington, D.C. attending the Common Word conference at Georgetown University, the fourth major Muslim-Christian dialogue conference of its kind.

Dr. Gomaa was appointed Grand Mufti of Egypt, and head of Dar Al Ifta, Egypt’s supreme body for Islamic legal edicts, in 2003 by President Hosni Mubarak, making him the senior interpreter of Islamic law in the country. He is active in global interfaith efforts, including the Common Word initiative launched by senior Islamic leaders in 2007, arguing that dialogue can dissolve barriers.

Dr. Gomaa has been a regular critic of interpretations of Islam that condone violence, and has written extensively on spirituality, prevention of violence, human rights, women's equality and peacemaking. The Grand Mufti greatly welcomed President Obama’s speech in Cairo, which called for greater interaction to forge new relations between the Islamic world and the West. On that occasion, Dar Al Ifta issued a document entitled "Our Faith," explaining the basic tenants of Islam.

The document can be read here.

The full audio of the lecture and Q&A session can be found here.

For more information on the Grand Mufti, please visit his official English Web site here.

To read the full text Grand Mufti’s Op/Ed in the Wall Street Journal please click here.

"We reject... any form of rebellion and any foreign interference (in Yemen). Egypt is supporting its sister state Yemen by all means at its disposal," he told reporters in Sanaa. 

The visit comes as Arab governments moved on Sunday to support Sanaa in its bid to crush rebels in northern Yemen, while clashes erupted in the southern city of Dhaleh over the detention of southerners viewed by the authorities as secessionists. 

Arab League chief Amr Moussa is due in Sanaa on Tuesday to meet President Ali Abdullah Saleh and discuss efforts to restore calm. 

Click here to read more

Egypt will offer two licenses to provide telecommunications services for upscale suburbs outside the capital, including fixed lines, a government official said Wednesday, in a move expected to bring in $1 billion worth of investments over the next five years.

Communication and Information Technology Minister Tarek Kamel said the licenses will be granted to a pair of consortia to operate internet, cable TV and phone services within these communities springing up around Cairo.

"These two additional licenses are for inviting consortia to come in from the private sector whether locally or internationally," said Kamel, speaking on the sidelines of the Euromoney Egypt conference.

The companies will not be required to submit an upfront payment, but the licenses would be based on a revenue sharing program in which the government would get 8 percent of the proceeds of operations within these compounds.

Telecom Egypt, the state-owned company, would still operate in these communities, including fixed line services.

Over the last few years, Cairo has been expanding and its developers have invested billions of dollars in new housing communities in the desert catering to upper- and middle-income Egyptians.

The government's move also indicates a shift in the responsibility for providing infrastructure from the state to private developers. 

Click here to read more

September 29, 2009

Egypt’s government expects to attract about $10 billion in foreign direct investment in the fiscal year through June 2010, up from $8.1 billion the previous year, Investment Minister Mahmoud Mohieldin said.

“This is not hard to get,” Mohieldin said today at a conference in Cairo. The government will promote 52 projects to foreign investors, including Asian and Gulf Arab sovereign wealth funds, he said.

The government expects growth of more than 5 percent in the fiscal year through June 30 and is drafting a law to encourage companies to invest in infrastructure, Mohieldin said.

Egypt’s economy expanded 4.7 percent in the fiscal year, exceeding the International Monetary Fund’s forecast of 4 percent to 4.5 percent. That compares with the 7 percent growth that the country achieved in the previous three years.

The 52 projects that the government is promoting include energy, housing, water distillation and roads, Mohieldin said.

A support package of up to 15 billion Egyptian pounds ($2.7 billion) for infrastructure, proposed by the Economic Development Ministry last month, won’t be necessary unless investment by Egyptian or foreign companies falls short of targets, the minister said.

Click here for the full article

Egypt's economy is projected to grow by over 5 percent in the fiscal year ending in June 2010, the country's investment minister said Tuesday. This latest projection is higher than the 4.7 percent growth achieved in the last fiscal year

Foreign direct investment, which along with tourism, the Suez Canal and worker remittances, make up the key revenue sources for the country, is expected to be about $10 billion in the coming fiscal year, Mohieddin said.

That is a rebound from the $8.1 billion level reported in the last fiscal year as the financial crisis squeezed the global economy.

Egypt had embarked on a sweeping financial and economic reform program several years ago. The country reformed its banking sector and is working on simplifying other business services.

It was ranked for the fourth year in a row among the Global Top 10 Reforming Governments by the World Bank.

Click here to read the full article

100 Facts about Egypt, Fact #3

The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved today a loan in the amount of $300 million to support the Affordable Mortgage Finance Program.

The Affordable Mortgage Finance Program seeks to fulfill one of the government’s key priorities in providing affordable housing for low and middle-income households.

The Program is a result of the strong partnership established between the Ministry of Investment, the Ministry of Housing, Utilities and Urban Development, and the World Bank.

“We are pleased to support the ongoing development of the mortgage market and the creation of a more efficient housing finance market that targets low and middle income groups,” said Emmanuel Mbi, Country Director for Egypt , Yemen and Djibouti .

The Program has three main components: Strengthening the legal, regulatory and institutional framework for the Mortgage Finance Subsidies Program; developing an effective and efficient mortgage finance subsidy mechanism; and improving the institutional framework to enhance transparency and targeting of housing subsidies. 

Click here to read the full article

Minister of Communications and Information Technology Dr. Tarek Kamel said that one of the most important usages of e-signature would be to issue permits, collect taxes and tariffs.

The E-Signature law reflects the Government's belief that facilitating IT tools and applications in using e-signature supports the transformation into an electronic world where the security of people's money and papers is further guaranteed.

In addition, the expansion in the use of e-signature adds to Egypt's competitiveness and is expected to boost investments.

Government’s savings as a result of this electronic authentication system are expected to be diverged into funding for social and development programs.

Click here to read the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology Press Release

Aboul Gheit said Israel is assumed to possess nuclear weapons, and if Iran is also acquiring a nuclear capability many countries in the Middle East would be uneasy, triggering an arms race.

Reacting to the news about Iran’s recently revealed uranium plant, Ahmed Abul Gheit told the daily Asharq Al-Awsat that the new uranium enrichment plant triggered "mounting suspicions", noting that the new plant in Qom signals intentions that should not be allowed"

The discovery of the plant's existence "is a negative development and we believe that Iran should have notified the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) years ago."

He stressed the necessity for the region, including Israel, to be free of nuclear weapons.

Click here and here to read more

Egypt's first solar power station will operate at full capacity in 2010, state news agency MENA reported on Monday.

The agency quoted Minister of Electricity Hassan Younes saying the station, located just south of Cairo in Koraymat, would have a capacity of 140 megawatts.

The power station is part of a larger facility that also includes three non-solar units and is expected to generate 2,900 megawatts once it comes on-stream.

Younes said the project was already connected to the national electricity distribution grid, adding that 99 percent of Egypt's population was connected to the grid, the highest rate in Africa.

Egypt aims to generate 20 percent of its power from renewable sources by 2020.

Click here to read more

100 Facts about Egypt, Fact # 7

A 6,000-square-foot exhibit titled “Lost Egypt: Ancient Secrets, Modern Science” opens in October at the Cincinnati Museum Center. On display will be the mummy of a 4 year old boy, along with real artifacts and hands on activities illustrating Egypt’s culture and people.

The exhibit was created and produced by the Center of Science and Industry in Columbus, where it premiered in May, and was built by the Science Museum of Minnesota. It includes human and animal mummies and scans showing what's inside them, a life-size rapid prototype of a mummy in a stage of unwrapping, forensic facial reconstructions and videos and photos showing Egyptology experts in the field.

The mummy of the young boy will appear at the exhibit's stop at the Museum Center, which received it as a gift from the Cincinnati Art Museum earlier this month. Museum Center officials believe Lost Egypt will mark the first time the mummy has been on exhibit. With no hieroglyphs to indicate his real name on the linen wrappings, they have named him Umi, which is pronounced "OO-me" and means "life."

"It hasn't been treated with total care, but it's still in remarkable condition," says Gene Kritsky, a biology professor at the College of Mount St. Joseph and a former Fulbright scholar in Egypt who has studied Egyptian amulets and hieroglyphics extensively.

The 38-inch-long mummy first arrived in Cincinnati in 1950, when the Cincinnati Art Museum acquired it from Edward L. Bernays of New York, a nephew of Sigmund Freud and a public relations pioneer whose clients included Procter & Gamble. In a 1949 letter, Bernays wrote that he obtained the mummy from "a distinguished student of the Near East." 

Click here to read more

Click here for more information on the exhibit

* Negotiations must begin at the earliest possible opportunity, with the international community providing a clear vision for a final settlement
* Israel must commit to and abide by a complete settlement freeze in all the occupied territories including East Jerusalem
* The settlement freeze must continue in parallel with the negotiating process to strengthen Palestinian confidence in Israel intentions.
* If an agreement on final borders is reached, and they will be based on the 1967 borders as agreed during US-sponsored negotiations in 2008, that agreement may implemented in a gradual manner on a time table agreed to by the parties.
* East Jerusalem in as integral and inalienable part of the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and a final status issue which must be part of any upcoming negotiations
* Israel’s engagement in serious, credible, clearly-defined and time bound negotiations may restore Arab engagement with Israel with a view to supporting mutual trust, and the negotiating process as a whole

On a related noted, the Egyptian Foreign minister along with the Secretary-General of the Arab League urged President Barack Obama on Friday to present his own outline of an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, in order to break the current deadlock and spur negotiations.

Aboul Gheit said such a deal should be based on the idea of a Palestinian state in the territories occupied by Israel in the 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital. A framework should also state that Israelis and Palestinians agree to live in peace and security, and outline steps toward normalization, he said.

This outline "would allow the parties to negotiate the end game," Aboul Gheit told The Associated Press in an interview, after meeting earlier in the day with Obama's Mideast envoy, George Mitchell.

Click here to read more

Click here to read Minister Aboul Gheit’s full speech at the United Nations

Egypt’s ambassador to the United States told a standingroom-only-crowd at the Clinton School of Public Service on Wednesday that resolving the many challenges in the Middle East, particularly the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, is in the world’s best interest.

“The Israeli-Palestian conflict remains the most pressing issue in the Middle East,” Sameh Shoukry said during the lunchtime speech in Little Rock.

Shoukry acknowledged that Iran’s nuclear ambitions must be addressed and extremism must be combated, but said reaching a settlement for Mideast peace is vital.

Read the full article here.

Ambassador Fahmy is the Dean of the School of Public Affairs at the American University in Cairo and Chair of the Center for Nonproliferation studies in the Middle East.

To read the full piece on The Huffington Post website, click here.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

A Clear Path Forward for the UN on Nuclear Disarmament

By Nabil Fahmy

This week, President Obama will chair a UN Security Council meeting on nuclear nonproliferation – the first time that a US president has ever done this.

In April, the U.S. president called for a nuclear free world in a keynote speech in Prague. At the time, many dismissed the remarks as the dreamy notions of a young administration with little national security experience. But President Obama's speech was not a lone shot in the dark. Several months earlier, four Cold War era American elder statesmen - Henry Kissinger, William Perry, George Shultz and Sam Nunn - had issued a similar call.

There is a new consensus forming around the nuclear issue and a new willingness for countries to act. For years, the nuclear debate revolved around those few countries that had nuclear weapons and those - equally small in number - trying to get them. Today, the security paradigm for the nuclear world has altered. The imminent threat no longer comes from a handful of superpowers, but the potential for the acquisition of nuclear weapons by unstable regimes and non-state entities. This reality affects us all. This status quo is not acceptable.

To read more, click here.

The most compelling problems in the Middle East, from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to prospects of a nuclear-armed Iran, require full engagement by the United States to solve, Egypt’s ambassador to the U.S. said today.

“We are encouraged by signs of determination by the (Obama) administration,” Ambassador Sameh Shoukry said during a speech to students at the Clinton School of Public Service.

“These challenges have a wide-ranging impact both on the region and beyond,” Shoukry said. “This has led us to an obvious conclusion, in that positive engagement with the U.S. and rallying behind the international community is crucial to address these challenges.”

He said the U.S.-Egyptian partnership is strong, and he encouraged President Obama to move forward in efforts to help negotiate a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

Shoukry also said Egypt supports Obama’s desire to “seek a world free of nuclear weapons,” and he warned that Iran’s development of nuclear weapons would set off a dangerous arms race in the Middle East.

Click here to read the full text of the article

Check back here for a video of the Ambassador’s full speech

A third Egyptian medical convey began its mission in Darfur on September 16 according to a statement by the spokesman for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry.

The spokesman noted that Egypt had dispatched a medical convoy in April 2009 that included 40 physicians that were assigned to the main hospitals of the three capitals of the Darfur region, and that a medical convoy that had treated 18,000 Darfurians was also sent in mid-July.

Egypt’s assistance to Darfur also includes sending food aid to various cities (at a cost of approximately USD 1 million from January to July 2008), digging wells in Darfur, providing training programs in agriculture, health and education to governmental and non governmental agencies. Egypt’s assistance aims at supporting peace, stability and development in Darfur.

Please click here to read the article on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website.

In partnership with Travco, a tourism group in Egypt, Air Arabia has announced its plans to launch a new low-cost airline in Egypt with destinations to Europe, Middle East and Africa. Air Arabia, the first low-cost airline in the Middle East, has announced a 21 percent increase in net profits for the first half of 2009 despite its many competitors and the global financial downturn. Egypt is the airline’s third hub after Morocco and UAE.

Cairo International Airport is already the second busiest airport in Africa, after Johannesburg International in South Africa, and also the fastest growing airport in the Middle East. The Air Arabia expansion is expected to boost the Egyptian tourism sector even more - a significant benefit to the Egyptian economy, which has already outperformed expectations this year growing at 4.7 percent.

Click here to read more

Ambassador Mushira Mhamoud Khatab, Minister of State for Family and Population, headed the Egyptian delegation to the International Conference on Violence against women in Rome last week, where she chaired a special session on the right to education and gave a presentation on the Egyptian initiative on girls education which is being implemented under the auspices of the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood. 

Ambassador Khatab asserted Egypt’s commitment to the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative, which aims to reduce the gender gap in schooling and to give girls equal access to all levels of education. 

The Egyptian Girls Education Initiative has been described in a United Nations Children’s Fund report as being “the creation of a new generation of schools for a new generation of women—women who are educated, empowered, and eager to take their rightful place in society, as equal partners in its development, be it in the family, in the community, or beyond”. 

Please click here to read the article on the Al-Ahram website. 

Please click here to read the UNICEF report, "The Girls' Education Initiative in Egypt."

Washington — Despite global economic distress, Egypt has once again been lauded for its reforms to promote ease of doing business by both the World Bank and the World Economic Forum.

For the fourth year in a row, Egypt ranked among the Global Top 10 Reforming Governments by the World Bank. Doing Business 2010: Reforming through Difficult Times evaluates countries based on government regulations and their impact on business prosperity. Egypt also jumped 10 places in the report’s global ranking of countries, and was among the top 50 in the categories of starting a business and trading across borders.

“Among the world’s 10 most active reformers for the fourth time, Egypt made business start-up less costly, expedited the construction permit process, expanded the information available from the private credit bureau, and created commercial courts to speed up contract dispute settlements,” the World Bank said in a press release.

Commenting on the report USAID said it was “honored to have partnered with eight of the top-ten countries,” adding that it had worked with Egypt “on reforms that reduced the capital required for new business registrations, made it faster to obtain required construction permits, and created specialized commercial courts to reduce the time required to resolve disputes,” and that “these reforms build on a history of USAID assistance in Egypt that since 2006 have reduced the time to register a business from 34 days to seven, reduced the time to register property by more than 100 days, and cut in half the time to export/import goods.”

Egypt also moved up 11 places in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report. According to the report, the improvement stems from Egypt’s reforms to improve the efficiency of labor and financial markets. It also notes the size of Egypt’s economy, stable private institutions and the quality of “transport and energy networks.”

“The indicator of starting a business has seen great progress since 2007, thanks to a package of institutional and legislative reforms: the cancellation of the minimum capital of the limited liability companies, cost reduction, setting up One Stop Shop service settlements at the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI), reducing the time needed to start a business to only three days and enforcing a taxation registration mechanization system so that taxation cards and social insurance cards now only take a single day to obtain. This helped improve Egypt’s rank in that indicator from 126 in 2007 to 41 in 2008 and 24 in 2009,” said Egypt Minister of Investment, Mahmoud Mohieldin.

According to the World Bank, healthy competition in the North Africa and Middle East region has spurred 17 of the 19 countries to reform business regulations. Egypt has been a leader in this development by implementing multiple reforms: cutting the corporate tax rate in half, simplifying tariffs and lowering personal taxes. As a result of these efforts, the unemployment rate fell from 11 percent in 2005 to 9 percent in 2009. The Egyptian economy outpaced expectations when it expanded 4.7 percent in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2009.

The other countries named in the Doing Business top 10 are Rwanda, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Belarus, United Arab Emirates, Moldova, Colombia, Tajikistan and Liberia.

The National Center for Social and Criminological Research signed an agreement on Saturday with UNDP “Benaa Program”, a human rights capacity building initiative, to conduct a comprehensive study on human trafficking in Egypt. 

Ambassador Wael Aboul-Magd, Director of the Human Rights department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that the National Committee for Combating Human Trafficking, which has worked on addressing all aspects of human trafficking since 2007, saw the need for a comprehensive study to provide research based guidance to national policy making on this issue, and, in particular, to focus government efforts to combat this these illicit activities, and plan public awareness campaigns. 

On a related issue, Ambassador Naela Gabr, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for International Agencies, and chairwoman of National Committee, organized a meeting with representatives of civil society to explain and consult with them on proposed Anti-Human Trafficking Legislation. She stated that “the proposed law is based on the need to protect the rights of victims, and stress [their lack of criminal responsibility] for any illegal acts they may commit as victims, as well as providing them with all necessary health, legal, social and economic assistance”.

Please click here to read the article on the Al-Masry Al-Youm website.
 

The mayor of Tianjin Huang Xingguo is seeking to boost cooperation with the Northwest Gulf of Suez in order to increase the flow of investments in the region after Tiida Egypt, a Chinese company, won a bid to develop the North West Suez Economic Zone.

In a meeting with Egyptian Investment Minister Mahmoud Mohieldin on Thursday 9/10/2009, Huang said that Beijing will be offering a USD 20-million grant to establish an investment service building in the area. According to Mohiedlin, the project will not only attract investors but it will also create jobs in the region.

Chinese investments in Egypt have recently increased with China owing shares in 865 Egyptian companies.

Please click here to read the original article. 

The initiative, which was initiated in 2006 by Minister of Communications and Information Technology Tarek Kamal is part of the government’s commitment to increase access to technology and the internet, and is one of the components of the Egyptian Information Society Initiative (EISI), which the Ministry is implementing jointly with all Egyptian ministries and authorities to turn Egypt into a digital society through the spread of ICT tools. 

Please click here to read the original article on Al-Ahram news. 

Please click here to read the press release from the Egyptian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.

Minister of Investment Mahmoud Mohieldin will be attending a special summer session of the World Economic Forum in the city of Dalian in China today. The minister and his delegation also plan on touring three high tech zones in the province and meeting with Chinese officials.

The minister said that his visit to China had been very fruitful having achieved its main goals and that other Egyptian delegations will also be visiting China soon, including the planned visit by the prime minister next year.

Mohieldin also inaugurated on Saturday the Egyptian-Chinese Investment Forum, which will support economic cooperation between the two countries.

Please click here to read the original article.

Please click here to read more.
 

CAIRO: Egypt’s world ranking has improved a dramatic 11 places. Unfortunately for football fans, Egypt’s dramatic rise was in the World Economic Forum’s “World Competitiveness Report 2009/2010” and not the recent FIFA rankings.
Egypt is now ranked 70 in global competitiveness, up from 81 in the 2008/2009 edition of the report.

The report was generated based on surveys of business executives coupled with publicly available databases. Saudi Arabia and Bahrain moved just a single place forward. Qatar and the UAE remain the highest ranked in the region, both were in the top 30. 

Algeria’s shift was even more dramatic than Egypt’s, moving from 99 up to 83rd place. While Tunisia and Oman tripped a few spots in the ratings, Syria took a tumble from 78 to 94.

The report notes the pros and cons of doing business in Egypt. Executives highlighted the size of the Egyptian market, which was ranked 26, as well as the recent improvements in infrastructure.

Please click here to read the article on The Daily News Egypt.

For the beautiful people, Azza Fahmy may be one of the best-known names in Egypt. 

A high-end jewelry designer, Fahmy's creations have adorned such beauties as supermodel Naomi Campbell and Queen Rania of Jordan. 

Her international luxury brand, Azza Fahmy Jewelries, blends Egyptian motifs and modern design to create high-end pieces. Working with precious metals and stones, Fahmy's work is inspired by the distinctive shapes, colors, textures and calligraphy of the country.

Cairo, the largest city in the Arab world nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets," is Fahmy's home. She thinks she may have lived a previous life in old Cairo, which has now grown into a mega-city of almost 20 million inhabitants.
"It's a strong feeling when I'm walking in the streets going to old houses, churchs and old mosques," Fahmy told CNN. "It's something inside me which I can't describe, as if I've lived before in these places." 

In the 1960s, Fahmy was the first woman to apprentice in Cairo's jewelry district. She says she'd whither and die if she ever had to leave Egypt. 

She takes us on a personal tour of the beguiling Egyptian capital, where she finds inspiration in almost everything she sees. "Everything in my mind is jewelry," she explains. "I turn it into jewelry." 

Please click here to read the article on CNN.com.

The three-time world champion raced through the opening two games with some astonishing winners to delight a sell-out crowd around the glass court set up in the open air off Chicago’s Michigan Avenue, known as the Magnificent Mile. 

Number two seed Shabana was certainly in magnificent form and a quick finish seemed on the cards as he won the second 11-2. Shabana opened up a 4-0 lead in the third game but Ashour began to work his way into the match, taking control from 4-6 down to win 11-7. 

Despite that confidence booster, the 21-year-old reigning world champion made a slow start to the fourth game and Shabana won the first five points and maintained that lead to stand within three points of the title at 8-3. 

Please click here to read the article on World Squash.

The Egyptian government targets export growth of as much as 15 percent in the fiscal year through June 2010, Trade and Industry Minister Rachid Mohamed Rachid said.

“This all depends on the rest of the world, because our main targets, our main markets are the United States and Europe,” Rachid said today in an interview at his office in central Cairo.

The global financial crisis dragged Egypt’s exports down 14.3 percent to $25.2 billion in the past fiscal year, according to the central bank.

Expansion of the domestic construction and communications industries offset the decline in Egypt’s main hard currency earners, helping the economy beat IMF forecast and expand 4.7 percent.

Read the full article here.

Please click here to read the original article.

The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of the Press and Information Office and are the sole responsibility of the original author/source.
 

The report, in the Egyptian daily newspaper El-Sherouk, added that the IDSC had stated that there had been only one H1N1-related fatality to date and that of the 743 cases of infection reported so far, 626 had recovered completely, and the remaining 116 are in good condition.

Please click here to read the original article.

The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of the Press and Information Office and are the sole responsibility of the original author/source.
 

To read the original article, please click here. 

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The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of the Press and Information Office and are the sole responsibility of the original author/source.

President Mubarak met with EU High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana for talks on the situation in the Middle East Peace Process, and other regional issues of common concern to Egypt and the EU, including the situations in Iraq, Sudan and Afghanistan. 

At a press conference after their meeting, Mr. Solana said that their talks were focused on the need to drive the peace process forward, particularly before the next session of the UN General Assembly this month, noting that in this regards the EU and Egypt share the same perspective. Asked to explain the EU’s policy on a settlement freeze by Israel at a press conference after their meeting, Mr. Solana said that “The position of the European Union is very clear, and it is that all [forms] of settlement activity must be frozen”.

In related news the Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abu El-Gheit, speaking at a press conference after a meeting with the Turkish Foreign Minister on regional issues, including difficulties in the formation of a new Lebanese government and tensions between Syria and Iraq, stated that the Palestinians and the Arab states insist that the Israeli government declare a clear, and international acceptable position on a complete settlement freeze, including East Jerusalem. The Egyptian Foreign Minister also stated that the if an appropriate temporary freeze was announced, direct talks could begin, but that they would be co-terminus with a settlement-freeze period, adding that Egypt rejected an open ended commitment to negotiations coupled with a fixed-term freeze to settlements.

Please click here to read the article on the Al-Ahram website.

The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of the Press and Information Office and are the sole responsibility of the original author/source.


 

The State Council, or Council of State, is the administrative court that presides over disputes pertaining to contracts and decrees issued by government officials and ministries. Governmental agencies often have in-house representatives from the State Council who advise on all administrative law matters.

State Council head Mohammad Husseini said nothing exists in the Egyptian Constitution or under Islamic law that prevents a woman from occupying an administrative judicial post, and women are employed in high ranking judicial positions in Gulf States.

Husseini added that the decision was taken on the basis of intense discussions within the State Council and that the decision was not imposed by an external political authority.

Leaders of women’s rights organizations praised President Hosni Mubarak’s work to end discrimination. Farkhanda Hassan, Secretary General of the National Council for Women, said, “this approach truly reflects the equality women achieve and it came in light of the implementation of President Mubarak’s directives to stop discrimination against women, and expressed its confidence in the ability of women to work in the judiciary sector.”

Between 2000 and 2008, Annual NET Foreign Direct Investment in Egypt has grown 26 fold, attracting USD 38 Billion.

For more information on investment in Egypt visit: http://www.gafinet.org/English/Pages/default.aspx

Please click here to read the original article.

The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of the Press and Information Office and are the sole responsibility of the original author/source.
 

The president of Qatari Diar, announced his firm plans to invest nearly USD 5.4 Billion to build a new residential city in Hurghada. The Qatari real estate, which has been operating in Egypt since 2006, is also involved in major investments in Sharm El-Sheikh on the Sinai Peninsula, and in Cairo. The project will spread over an area of 29 km and will be completed over 15 years.

Between 2000 and 2008, Annual NET Foreign Direct Investment in Egypt has grown 26 fold, attracting USD 38 Billion.

Please click here for more information on investment in Egypt.

Please click here to read the article on the El Sherouk website. 

The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of the Press and Information Office and are the sole responsibility of the original author/source.

During Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's visit to the US capital earlier this month, comments and media reports focused on the possible restarting of the diplomatic process between Israel and the Palestinians. Little was said on the other issues, which is what the two leaders intended.

However, the main purpose of the visit had been to achieve a thaw between Egypt and the United States after an estrangement of some years which had become an embarrassment to both countries.

It had started with former US president George W. Bush and secretary of state Condoleezza Rice's well-meaning efforts to bring democracy to the Middle East.

Intense pressure was brought to bear on the Egyptian president to convince him to do something about human rights and to hold free and transparent elections.

Please click here to read the article on the Jerusalem Post website.

“The Egyptian economy is starting to overcome the financial crisis,” government spokesman Magdy Rady told reporters today in Cairo. Economic Development Minister Osman Mohamed Osman and Finance Minister Youssef Boutros-Ghali had announced the data earlier to Bloomberg News.

In the third quarter of the 2009 fiscal year the economy’s growth rate was 4.3 percent, and in the fourth quarter the growth rate increased to 4.6 percent.

“This proves that the economy was more resilient than expected,” said Mohamed Abu Basha, an economist at Cairo-based investment bank EFG-Hermes.

Acknowledging that the Middle East peace process is in a "rut," President Obama nonetheless voiced confidence Tuesday that a breakthrough can be achieved -- and he thanked Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, whom he hosted for meetings at the White House, for playing a constructive role.

"There has been movement in the right direction," Obama said. "If all sides are willing to move off of the rut that we're in currently, then I think there is an extraordinary opportunity to make real progress. But we're not there yet."

Mubarak, addressing reporters alongside Obama, conveyed his willingness to aid the effort. "We are trying and working on this goal, to bring the two parties to sit together and to get something from the Israeli party and to get something from the Palestinian party. If we, perhaps, can get them to sit together, we will help," he said.

Mubarak and Obama's meeting, their third in three months, marked a significant departure from the previous administration -- when Mubarak and President George W. Bush divided over human rights and U.S. policy in the Middle East.

Please click here to read the article on the Washington Post website.

In an exclusive interview with PBS’s Charlie Rose, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stressed the need for a holistic and lasting solution for peace between Israel and the Palestinians. He highlighted Egypt’s “laborious efforts” to unify Hamas and Fatah, acknowledging that unity has to occur before there can be peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

Defining the borders of a Palestinian state will unlock many of the other issues of a final agreement, Mubarak said, adding that the Israeli government’s recent acceptance of a two-state solution was a positive first step.

“What I can say is that we have to consider the whole issue holistically, to negotiate on the final resolution,” Mubarak said in the interview.

Please click here to watch the entire original interview on Charlie Rose.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit discussed Middle East tensions with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva during a visit on Wednesday.

The meeting, which played to Brazil's ambition of having a role in helping negotiate peace in the Middle East, took place a week after Lula talked over the same issues with visiting Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.

Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, who also took part in the discussions, reiterated the view that peace in the Middle East could only be achieved through the creation of an "economically viable" Palestinian state that was not broken up by Israeli control lines.
He also lent Brazil's voice to the international community's consensus that Israel should immediately cease expanding settlements in occupied Palestinian territory.

Abul Gheit hailed Brazil's stance, saying: "Brazil can play a role (in the Middle East peace negotiations) because it has political as well as economic potential."

Brazil plans to extend its Middle East mediating position by receiving Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the next few weeks, followed by Israeli President Shimon Peres in November.

Latin America's biggest economy is seeking the extra clout as part of its longterm ambition to one day join the UN Security Council as a permanent member. 

Please click here to read the article on the Agence France Presse website.

Even before giving his phenomenal speech in Cairo, Egypt, President Barack Obama was already popular in the Arab world’s most populous country. In less than six months in office, Obama was able to overcome eight years of profound distrust and frustration during the Bush administration and dramatically boost America's image in Egypt.

For most Egyptians, Obama -- unlike his predecessor -- is sincere and even-handed, with the potential to bring peace to the region. Most important, Obama is viewed as someone able to make a distinction between Islam and terrorism, which for the majority of Muslims is a huge leap forward.

It is not surprising, then, that a survey released this month by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center found that positive public attitudes toward the United States have surged in U.S.-allied Egypt and Jordan since Obama took office.

Please click here to read the article on the Los Angeles Times website.

Special U.S. peace envoy George Mitchell is in Egypt as part of a push to resume Arab-Israeli peace talks.

George Mitchell looked tired but sounded upbeat, on the latest lap of his shuttle mission that has brought him from Syria and Israel to Egypt.

The visit was his fifth to Cairo and the second in just more than a month and a half. One Egyptian analyst quipped Senator Mitchell is starting to become "a household name in Egypt and the Arab world."

Egyptian TV showed the envoy meeting with President Hosni Mubarak and Foreign Minister Ahmed Abou Gheit, reporting that he briefed them about his weekend talks with Syrian President Bashar al Assad and Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

Please click here to read the article on the Voice of America website.

Yossi Gal, the director of Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday arrived in Cairo at the head of an Israeli diplomatic delegation.

Gal would meet with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit and other senior Egyptian diplomats over the course of his afternoon visit, the Israeli Embassy in Cairo said.

'The visit, which aims to promote relations between Egypt and Israel, is part of the regular contact maintained by the two states,' Israeli Embassy spokeswoman Shani Cooper-Zubida said.

Gal's visit comes amid a US diplomatic blitz to restart negotiations for a 'comprehensive' Middle East peace.

Please click here to read the article on the Monsters & Critics website.

US Middle East peace envoy George Mitchell called on Arab states on Monday to fully normalise ties with Israel, after meeting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on the latest leg of a regional tour.

Mitchell told reporters after the talks that Washington was asking countries in the region to set the "context" for comprehensive peace negotiations between Israel and the Arab world.

"By comprehensive I mean peace between Israel and Palestinians, between Israel and Syria, between Israel and Lebanon and the full normalisation of relations between Israel and the countries of the region," he said.

"We're not asking anyone to achieve full normalisation at this time, we recognise that will come further down the road in this process," he said.

Please click here to read the article on the Agence France Presse website.

Ministers from the 10 African countries on the Nile river began crucial discussions Monday over drafting a new water sharing agreement, which is hampered by Egypt's refusal to reduce its share of world's longest river.

In an opening address to the Nile Basin Initiative, held in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, Egypt's Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif urged for a "return of the cooperation and harmony" among the group's members, describing the ongoing dispute as a "misunderstanding."

In the two-day meeting, participants are hoping to conclude the Nile Cooperative Framework Agreement, which establishes a permanent body to oversee water allocation along the Nile.

Please click here to read the article on the San Francisco Chronicle website.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Thursday called on the Arab world to engage with Israel and praised the opportunity afforded by the Arab initiative for regional peace.

"I believe that this spirit can help create an atmosphere in which a comprehensive peace is possible," Netanyahu said in a reception at the residence of Egyptian Ambassador Yasser Reda in Herzliya.

"We appreciate the efforts by Arab states to advance the peace initiative," the prime minister said, adding that "If these proposals are not final, they can create an atmosphere in which a comprehensive peace can be reached."

Netanyahu said that he nevertheless hoped to "forge peace with the Palestinians" in the coming months and years "and to expand that into a vision of a broader regional peace."

Please click here to read the article on the Jerusalem Post website.

Omar Suleiman, the director of Egypt’s general intelligence service and a possible successor to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, has been named the most powerful intelligence chief in the Middle East by Foreign Policy Magazine. 

It is widely believed the president is grooming his son, Gamal Mubarak, to succeed him, but Suleiman is very popular and may have the backing of factions within the military.

Some Egyptian analysts see his popularity as a staged buffer to help Gamal succeed his father in a smooth transition, while others see him as one of various powerful contenders for the presidency.

Please click here to read the article on the Israel National News website.

Egypt's UAE investments increased to $3.9 billion by the end of April, a 34.5 percent increase over the previous year, according to Abdel Rahman A. Raouf, Commercial Counselor at the Egyptian Ministry of Commerce and Industry. The Counselor commented that there are still significant opportunities to increase the volume of trade exchange between Egypt and the UAE.

"Trade exchange between Egypt and the UAE increased threefold in 2007 and 2008, as it rose from $390 million in 2007 to $1.4 billion in 2008. We noticed in 2008 and the beginning of 2009 there is a big increase in exports and imports between the two countries and this is a result of the development of political relations," Counselor Raouf said.

The Counselor added, "Official statistics show foreign direct investments (FDI) in Egypt rose from $354.6 million in 2000 to $13.2 billion in 2008. The FDI in oil sector totaled $4.1 billion, while they arrived at $9.1 billion in non-oil sectors."

Egypt is an attractive investment for other countries and, based on the depth of its domestic economy, has enormous growth potential. In addition, it is close in proximity to key markets such as Europe, the Mediterranean, Africa and the Gulf states.

To read the full text of the article, please click here.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Monday arrived for talks in Paris to revive the Mediterranean Union initiative and the Middle East peace process, the foreign ministry said.

Mubarak who was to see his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy over lunch on Tuesday, held talks with Prime Minister Francois Fillon at his Paris hotel after arriving in the afternoon, Fillon's office said.

Fillon did not give details about the talks which lasted 45 minutes.
No statements were expected Tuesday after Mubarak's meeting with Sarkozy.

Please click here to read the article on Agence France Presse.

A summit of the Non-Aligned Movement opened at this Egyptian Red Sea resort town Wednesday with a call from Cuban President Raul Castro for a new international financial system to shield developing nations from the global recession.

Castro was addressing the opening session of the movement's two-day summit at Sharm el-Sheikh, the 15th such gathering since the group was founded in the 1950s.

"We demand the establishment of a new international financial and economic structure that relies on the participation of all countries," Castro said. "There must be a new framework that doesn't depend solely on the economic stability and the political decision of only one country," the Cuban leader said, apparently referring to the United States.

The new system, he said, must give developing countries "preferential treatment." He did not elaborate.

Read the article here.

Mr Abdel Wahab already has E£25m ($4.5m) of equity in the business, and an established record exporting pads to Europe, but even so, lenders have been balking.

“Last year it would have been easier,” says Mr Abdel Wahab. “I have not failed yet. There are promising negotiations with a bank. But it has not been easy.”

Raising funds for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Egypt has always been difficult but Mr Abdel Wahab, who also heads the Engineering Exports Council, says the financial crisis has made banks even more cautious.

SMEs make up the majority of the industrial private sector in Egypt, says Adham Nadim, executive director of the government’s Industrial Modernisation Centre.

Please click here to read the story on the Financial Times website.
 

Egypt will play host to the 15th Non-Aligned Movement Summit on July 15-16th and the two prime ministers are scheduled to meet beforehand.

An AFP article cited the reasons for the meeting as being an effort to achieve a normalcy of relations between the two countries; peace talks between the two countries have been suspended since the Mumbai terror attacks in November 2008.

To read the full text of the CNN article, please click here.

To read the full text of the AFP article, please click here.

The two presidents will discuss the latest developments in the Middle East peace process and the issue of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was seized by Gaza Strip militants three years ago, it said in a statement.

Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement have been holding indirect talks via Egypt on a prisoner exchange that would see Shalit freed in return for the release of hundreds of Palestinians in Israeli jails.

Egypt is Israel's most important Arab ally and the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with the Jewish state.

In a Financial Times article by Michael Kavanagh, Egypt is listed among the countries registering the biggest improvement in levels of peace, according to the Global Peace Index.

A marked economic slowdown in the global economy and rising fuel and food prices combined to make the world a "slightly less peaceful place" according to the latest Global Peace Index.

Countries registering the biggest improvement in their levels of peace were Bosnia-Herzegovina, Angola, Congo Brazzaville, Egypt, and Trinidad and Tobago.

Not surprisingly, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Israel and Sudan made up the bottom rankings, as they are the most affected by military conflict, civil war, and threat of attack.

To read the complete text of the article, please click here.

To view Global Peace Index Rankings, please click here.

Washington Times reporter Mark Kellner met with the Minister last week to discuss the Google deal, Egypt as an ICT hub in the Middle East, and internet freedom and governance issues.

During the interview, the Minister told the Times, "our (Egypt's) policy line has been always trying to keep the Internet open, trying to keep it as a platform really for development, socioeconomic development, open as much as we can."

"We try, on a regional level within the councils that we are a member [of], whether it is the African Council of Ministers ICT or the Arab Council of Ministers or ICT, to deliver the message to keep the Internet as open as we can, and as much as we can," he added.

Egypt is due to host the Internet Governance Forum in November at Sharm el Sheikh.

To read the full text of the article, please click here.

Washington Times reporter Mark Kellner met with the Minister last week to discuss the Google deal, Egypt as an ICT hub in the Middle East, and internet freedom and governance issues.

During the interview, the Minister told the Times, "our (Egypt's) policy line has been always trying to keep the Internet open, trying to keep it as a platform really for development, socioeconomic development, open as much as we can."

"We try, on a regional level within the councils that we are a member [of], whether it is the African Council of Ministers ICT or the Arab Council of Ministers or ICT, to deliver the message to keep the Internet as open as we can, and as much as we can," he added.

Egypt is due to host the Internet Governance Forum in November at Sharm el Sheikh.

To read the full text of the article, please click here.

President Barack Obama's seminal address in Cairo marked a turning point in America's relations with the Muslim world. His message was clear and incontrovertible: It is issues of politics and policy, not a clash of values, that separate the Muslim world and America. It is the resolution of these issues that will heal the divide. Click here to read more

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak outlined his vision for peace in the Middle East and a settlement between Israelis and Palestinians in an op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal.

"A historic settlement is within reach, one that would give the Palestinians their state and freedom from occupation while granting Israel recognition and security to live in peace. With President Obama's reassertion of U.S. leadership in the region, a rare moment of opportunity presents itself. Egypt stands ready to seize that moment, and I am confident that the Arab world will do the same." wrote Mubarak.

To read the full text of the op-ed, please click here.

To read coverage of the op-ed from Reuters, please click here.

AFP

CAIRO - Egypt's parliament has passed a law allocating a quota of 64 seats in the lower house to women, in what a minister said on Monday was aimed at promoting their role in society.

The new law adopted on Sunday will give women more than 12 percent of the seats in an expanded parliament after the next election in 2010, Minister of Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Mufid Shehab said.

It raises the total number of seats in the People's Assembly from 454 - including 10 appointed by the president - to 518. Nine women were elected to parliament in the last election in 2005.

Parliament speaker Fathi Sorour described the law's approval as "an historic event" for Egyptian women.

To read the full text of the article, please click here.

Cairo, Egypt - It looks like there may be more women in the stuffy chambers of the Egyptian parliament. A new election law is set to include an additional 56 seats, all of which will be allocated to female candidates, according to Gamal Mubarak, the son of President Hosni Mubarak and a key figure in the ruling National Democratic Party.

In its convention this week, the NDP's policies committee agreed on a proposal to increase the number of seats in the People's Assembly to 510 from 454 during the next elections. Mubarak confirmed that the new elections law amendments should guarantee that at least 11 percent of the new parliament members will be women.

To read the full text of the article, please click here.

Egypt's 11 percent female representation in the legislature is not far behind the United States, where women make up 17 percent of the U.S. Congress. Conversely, Egypt is ahead of its neighbors: women make up 8 percent of Kuwait's parliament and women hold 2 percent of parliamentary seats in Lebanon.

CAIRO, June 9 (Reuters) - Egypt's intelligence chief held talks with Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal on Tuesday aimed at containing a crisis after West Bank raids by Western-backed Palestinian security forces on Hamas targets sparked clashes.

Damascus-based Meshaal's visit to Cairo is his first in many months, and the talks come two days after Egyptian officials met leaders from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah group, which launched last week's raids that killed nine people in ensuing violence in the West Bank city of Qalqilya.

Egyptian officials met with Ahmed Qurei on Sunday, who leads Fatah negotiators in Cairo-sponsored reconciliation talks, to find ways to sustain talks and end clashes, arrests and counter-arrests by forces loyal to Fatah and Hamas.

Hamas spokesman Taher al-Nono said Tuesday's talks would focus on the repercussions of last week's raids and hoped Egypt would help "compel the Palestinian Authority to stop the assaults against our people in the West Bank".

Egyptian mediators stepped up pressure on the groups to form a unity government by setting a July 7 deadline to bridge divisions. That would prepare the ground for a gradual restoration of unity and allow holding presidential and parliamentary election in January 2010.

To read the full text of the article, please click here.

Mr. Mubarak commented on the U.S. role in the Middle East and President Obama's trip to the Middle East, "If you really want to address the real issue in the region, if you are to re-establish U.S. leadership in that very important part of the world, this is the beginning and the start of a message of respect, a message of understanding, a message of reaching out... this is a sign of strength."

Mr. Mubarak currently holds the position of Deputy Secretary General of the National Democratic Party (NDP) of Egypt, which holds a large majority of seats in the Egyptian parliament. He also heads the party's policies-setting committee within the NDP.

Please click here for video of the interview

Egyptian Prime Minister Doctor Ahmed Nazif was interviewed by CBS News Correspondent Lara Logan; the interview aired on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric Wednesday evening, June 3.

Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif told Lara Logan that the speech came at a critical time. "Time is working against us," Nazif said. "I think time is of the essence - we need to work fast and this is the message we've been getting from the administration...and I think it's very important that it would happen in the first year of this administration."

The Prime Minister was primarily talking about ending violence between Israelis and Palestinians, "The Israeli-Palestinian issue is the core - you solve this problem and you'll find that many other issues have to fall in line," Nazif said.

Prime Minister Nazif, the second youngest prime minister in the history of modern Egypt, has led a team of technocrats which has successfully modernized Egypt's economy, reduced inflation and produced a number of significant constitutional reforms. He is also known for his expertise in information technology (IT) and telecommunications.

Egyptian Prime Minister Doctor Ahmed Nazif was interviewed by CBS News Correspondent Lara Logan. The interview aired on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric Wednesday evening, June 3 in advance of U.S. President Barack Obama's address to the Muslim World.

In the interview with Ms. Logan, Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif said that the speech came at a critical time:

"Time is working against us," Nazif said. "I think time is of the essence - we need to work fast and this is the message we've been getting from the administration... I think it's very important that it would happen in the first year of this administration." He continued, "The Israeli-Palestinian issue is the core - you solve this problem and you'll find that many other issues have to fall in line."

Prime Minister Nazif, the second youngest prime minister in the history of modern Egypt, has led a team of technocrats which has successfully modernized Egypt's economy, reduced inflation and produced a number of significant constitutional reforms. He is also known for his expertise in information technology (IT) and telecommunications.

For more on the interview, please click here.

Mr. Gamal Mubarak, son of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, was interviewed by ABC Co-Anchor Christopher Cuomo. The interview aired this morning on ABC's Good Morning America immediately following President Obama's address to the Muslim World.

Mr. Mubarak commented on the U.S. role in the Middle East and President Obama's trip to the Middle East:

"If you really want to address the real issue in the region, if you are to re-establish U.S. leadership in that very important part of the world, this is the beginning and the start of a message of respect, a message of understanding, a message of reaching out... this is a sign of strength."

Mr. Mubarak currently holds the position of Deputy Secretary General of the National Democratic Party (NDP) of Egypt, which holds a large majority of seats in the Egyptian parliament. He also heads the party's policies-setting committee within the NDP.

Please click here for video of the interview.

The Islamic Research Council (IRS) is one of the premier Islamic authorities that primarily speaks in the name of Al-Azhar, the most respected and influential Sunni institution in the Muslim world. IRC is a compendium of 50 senior Muslim Scholars from various Muslim countries headed by the Grand Imam Sheikh Mohammad Syed Tantawi.

Cairo, Egypt - On the occasion of President Barack Obama's historic visit to Egypt and his speech to the Muslim World which he gave today at Cairo University, the Members of the Islamic Research Council (IRC) welcome President Obama's visit as a clear gesture of goodwill and respect.

This gesture is particularly welcome given the fact that President Obama chose Egypt as the venue of his speech to the Muslim World, in recognition of its rich legacy and profound influence on the Islamic World, by virtue of it taking place at Al-Azhar - the seat of the most respected and influential Sunni institution of Islamic scholarship and education in the world.

The Members of the IRC view President Obama's speech as indicative of a promising new era in relations between America and the Arab and the Muslim worlds, and that paves the way for real dialogue among civilizations, rather than conflict, which some may want us to believe is unavoidable.

The Members commend President Obama for his deep appreciation for the Islamic faith and the contributions of Islamic civilization over the centuries in shaping the world for the better, and for his assertion that America seeks greater engagement and a true partnership with the Muslim world based upon mutual respect.

The Members wish to assert that they share with President Obama the goal of a just, comprehensive, and lasting peace in the Middle East, particularly between Palestine and Israel. The IRC strongly calls upon him to make progress towards achieving such a peace in the region. They also welcome his initiative to end the occupation of Iraq and withdraw U.S. forces. The Members stress that a similar initiative should be made in Afghanistan.

The Members assure the American people that the concerns of most Muslims are identical to those of most Americans, and that they have a common desire to lead a peaceful and dignified life. Both Muslims and Americans face a common threat posed by extremism and terrorism, which people of all religions reject.

The IRC Members affirm that throughout its long history, Al-Azhar has provided equal educational opportunities for men and women, and has been devoted to spreading a balanced vision of Islam based on the various recognized Schools of Islamic law and orthodox theology infused with spiritual depth.

Students at Al-Azhar have been taught not only how to master grammar, logic, and law, but also have been given instruction in Islamic ethics and spirituality, qualities which are considered integral parts of effective religious leadership, and development of a culture of dialogue and tolerance. Combined with an understanding of contemporary issues, this holistic approach to religious education continues to draw students from all over the world to study at Al-Azhar. These students return to their countries not only with knowledge, but with the example of a balanced religiosity that, while remaining true to its principles, is able to address the needs of Muslim society in a changing world.

Al-Azhar has long been active in reaching out to other religious communities, both within the Islamic world, and at the international level. This spirit of dialogue can be found in the statements and fatwas of Al-Azhar's Sheikhs, as well as in the activities of its scholars.

The Members of the IRC affirm that there is a great and vast field in which both the Muslim world and the United States can act together, including rejecting terror; defending and promoting the moral values of compassion and justice; spreading goodwill and bridging misunderstandings; and overcoming misconceptions and stereotypes among all peoples of the world.

The Members recognize the necessity of translating these shared commitments into tangible deeds and programs to achieve these noble goals.

H.E. Dr. Mohamed El-Sayed El-Tantawy
Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar
President of the Islamic Research Council

About the Islamic Research Council (IRC)

Islamic Research Council (IRS) is one of the premier Islamic authorities in the Muslim world that primarily speaks in the name of Al-Azhar, the most respected and influential Sunni institution in the Muslim world and the most sought out seminary for Islamic instruction.

IRC is a compendium of 50 senior Muslim Scholars from various Muslim countries headed by the Grand Imam of Al Azhar Sheikh Mohammad Syed Tantawi. Other notable member Scholars include: Dr Mahmoud Hamdi Zaqzoq, the Minister of Endowment and Islamic affairs; Sheikh Ali Gomaa, the Grand Mufti of Egypt; and Dr Ahmad El Tayyib, the Rector of Al Azhar University.

IRC was established in 1961 with the purpose of being the supreme arbitrator of Islamic legal and cultural discourse. Since its inception, IRC has established itself as one of the world's leading councils of Islamic authority, and has offered wisdom and clarity to Muslims worldwide.

The Grand Mufti of Egypt Ali Gomaa said the use of Weapons of Mass Destruction would violate Islamic teachings, as Muslims as well as non-Muslims could be killed.

He issued the religious ruling, or fatwa, following reports that the use of such weapons was legitimate, the state news agency Mena said.

The Associated Press quoted the Grand Mufti as saying, "This constitutes a surprise (attack), and killing of the unaware. It is not sanctioned to kill them," Gomaa said. "This act also would necessitate killing and annihilating Muslims in those countries," which is unlawful in Islam. - Associated Press, May 31, 2009

His ruling comes just days before the visit to Cairo of U.S. President Barack Obama. Mr. Obama, who arrives on 4 June, is expected to give a speech on U.S. relations with the Muslim world.

To read the full text of the article, click here.

Egypt's ambassador to the United States

The White House recently announced that President Barack Obama will deliver his much-anticipated address to the Muslim world from Egypt in early June. This decision has been warmly received and appreciated by Egyptians, Arabs and the Muslim world at large. Some may wonder why President Obama chose Egypt rather than other attractive venues

In my view, President Obama chose to address the leaders and people of the Muslim world from the very heart of the old world. His decision reflects an understanding of Egypt's rich civilization and its valuable contributions to intellectual thought and cultural exchange throughout the millennia. Along with its promotion of international tolerance, understanding and reconciliation in the modern world, these factors make Egypt the springboard of U.S. engagement in the Middle East.

Moreover, Egypt has long been the locomotive for political, economic and social development in the modern Middle East. It was in Egypt that the region saw its first constitution, its first parliament, and indeed the first to embody the institutions of a modern nation state, all of this dating to the early 19th century.

Thirty years ago, Egypt became the first Arab country to sign a peace accord with Israel and established the framework by which other Arab states and Israel have created their own peace. To this day, Egypt continues to work toward fostering a lasting peace between its neighbors, brokering a permanent cessation of hostilities in Gaza, holding Palestinian unity talks and confronting radical ideology within its own borders. In many ways, Egypt is the arbiter of peace and the force of moderation in the Middle East.

With more than 500 newspapers, journals and magazines and an estimated 162,000 bloggers, making up 30 percent of Arab bloggers worldwide, political discussion and debate within Egypt about the future of the Arab and Muslim world is extensive, and tends to set the tone for such debate among Arabs and Muslims.

Beyond the politics of the Middle East, Egypt is the Arab world's largest and most populous nation. Long at the center of Islamic intellectual thought and learning, Egypt's tradition of religious tolerance and cultural diversity embodies the ideals and values of moderate Islam. The Al Azhar University in Cairo is considered among the oldest seats of Islamic learning and has historically embodied the tradition of moderation and tolerance that characterized Egypt's religious heritage. Egypt is also home to the largest and one of the oldest Christian communities in the Middle East, making it a melting pot of religions and civilizations.

Egypt's broad efforts at economic liberalization have also been recognized by global leaders. For the third year in a row, Egypt has been named the top economic reformer in the Middle East by the World Bank's Doing Business project. This year, Egypt was also named one of the top 10 global reformers, and when many countries are seeing their economies contract, Egypt is expecting sustained growth.

Bilaterally, the United States and Egypt have enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship for decades. Defense Secretary Robert Gates recently stressed from Cairo that the United States considered Egypt one of its most important partners.

As President Obama eloquently put it, America "is not and will never be at war with Islam." His initiative comes at a very opportune time, and Egypt, America's longstanding friend and ally, is eager to work with the U.S. in advancing the causes of peace and stability in today's troubled world, and mending current relations between the West and Islam.

Special Report: Palestine-Israel Conflicts

On Monday evening, Egypt allowed a European aid-laden convoy to cross into the blockaded Gaza Strip which is ruled by Islamic Hamas movement, officials in Gaza said.

The European aid convoy, called "Hope," included 39 European activists and 40 wagons of humanitarian aid holding food and medicine. It arrived at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza on Sunday.

...Since June 2007... Israel and Egypt have only opened their border crossings with the Gaza Strip for humanitarian aids, fuels and medicine. Egypt, from time to time, opened its borders for Palestinians to receive medical treatment in Egypt.

The Hope aid convoy is the second that reaches Gaza since the end of Israel's 22-day military offensive on the Gaza Strip which ended on Jan. 18.

The first aid convoy with vehicles, ambulances and trucks, which was led by British member of Common House George Galloway, arrived in the Gaza Strip two weeks after the end of the Israeli offensive."

Arab Republic of Egypt
Press Office - Minister's Cabinet

Cairo, Egypt - Egypt has sent 40 doctors to the western Sudan region to fill the gap which was the result of the expulsion of 13 aid groups working there. Sudanese authorities ordered out 13 foreign aid groups working in Darfur at the beginning of March following the ICC arrest warrant issued against Sudanese President Omer Al-Bashir.

A spokesman for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry stated that the convoy of doctors and medical supplies left Egypt on April 28th.

The Spokesman added that this convoy follows on Egypt's ongoing contribution to the peacekeeping efforts in Darfur, shown through Egypt's participation in a hybrid peacekeeping mission in Darfur at the end of March, as well as by projects that Egypt is undertaking to dig wells which will serve the inhabitants of the Sudan.

These initiatives reflect Egypt's intent to support the Sudanese people's efforts in their path towards peace and stability.

Obama to Make Speech to Muslim World from Cairo

WASHINGTON, DC, May 8, 2009 - The Egyptian government warmly welcomes today's announcement by the White House that President Obama will visit Egypt in early June to make his keynote address to the Muslim World.

"President Obama's speech offers an important opportunity to deepen America's engagement with the Arab and Muslim world, and Egypt is a unique venue for that objective," said Sameh Shoukry, Egypt's Ambassador to the United States. Egypt is the Arab world's largest and most populous nation and has long been at the center of Islamic intellectual thought.

Egypt's long tradition of religious tolerance and diversity embodies the ideals and values of moderate Islam. "The true nature of Islam lies in its moderate heart, not at its radical fringes. Egypt is very hopeful that President Obama's speech will mark a watershed in America's relations with the Muslim world," said Ambassador Shoukry.

President's Obama's initiative comes at a very opportune time. There are many challenges facing the Middle East, in particular the need to achieve peace for the people of the region and to reduce the threat posed by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

"It is important that America's relations with the Muslim World be based on mutual respect and understanding. Egypt stands ready to work with President Obama and his Administration towards that objective, in accordance with our longstanding friendship," concluded Ambassador Shoukry.

CONTACT: Karim Haggag
(202) 372 - 7799
karimhaggag@gmail.com

Egyptian Ambassador Sameh Shoukry attends Dinner with African Ambassadors on March 26, 2009, on Capital Hil. The forum provides an opportunity for African Ambassadors to share information on the socioeconomic progress of their respective countries, and to speak to policy makers, Members of Congress and the media on their foreign policy objectives.

The number of mobile phone subscriptions in Egypt rose by 642,000 to 56.49 million in February, according to communications ministry data. The figures amount to a penetration rate of around 72 per cent, although industry executives and analysts estimate that some 20 to 25 per cent of the market involves second phones. January subscriptions were 55.848 million.

Most see room for growth up to around 65 million accounts, or 85 per cent of the population.
A year ago the three mobile firms -- Mobinil, Vodafone Egypt and Etisalat Egypt -- had 43.49 million subscribers in Egypt, whose population is 78 million.

The communications minister said in January that a fourth mobile licence could be offered depending on factors such as available spectrum and revenue as well as subscriber growth. The state-owned landline monopoly Telecom Egypt has expressed an interest in any new licence, holding off on a dividend payment last month ahead of a possible bid. Growth in subscriptions has slowed in recent months after jumping 1.67 million in December.

More than a million accounts had been created every month since late in 2008 as the three operators offered heavily discounted on-network plans to garner customers. In October subscriptions fell.