WATANI International
27 April 2008
LE20 billion
Egypt’s commodity exports achieved a quantum leap during the first quarter of this year, reaching LE20 billion, including exports within the framework of the Qualified Industrial Zones (QIZ) agreement which rose by 15 per cent. According to Mohamed al-Banna, Chairman of the General Organisation for Export and Import Control, exports of chemical products and fertilisers reached LE4.5 billion, up 32 per cent from the same period in 2007, while agricultural exports rose some 24 per cent leap hitting LE3.6 billion. Exports of electronic and engineering products and food industries stood at LE 2.26 billion and LE 1.9 billion respectively, and exports of ready-made garments amounted to LE1.2 billion.
Low-Cost Phones
Egypt’s Quicktel has signed an agreement with China’s TechFaith Wireless to develop and manufacture low-cost mobile handsets in Egypt basing on technology from Qualcomm. Mr Defu Dong, CEO of TechFaith, said he expected demand for mobile solutions in the Middle East and North Africa region to remain robust for a long time. QuickTel was established in 1959 as part of the Egyptian Telephone Company, was privatised in 1999, and today employs some 1000 in Cairo.
Record surgery
“Egypt has set a record in performing successful liver transplant surgeries compared to other countries in the region,” Health Minister Hatem al-Gabali said during the opening session of the fifth international conference of liver transplant held earlier this month in Cairo. “To date, around 518 liver transplants were performed in Egypt by Egyptian surgeons,” he said. Doctors from the US, France, Japan and Germany took part in the two-day conference.
Arabic Language
The 73rd round of the Arabic Language Annual Conference was held in Cairo last week. The two-day conference focused on “Arabic language and the challenges of the 21st century”. Participants from 32 Arab and foreign countries took part.
Family garden
The Heliopolis Services Association has opened a garden it established on a 60-feddan area in the satellite town of New Cairo, east of Cairo. The first garden planted in Egypt by a NGO, it includes a children’s library and cultural centre.
At the frontier
The towns of Halayeb and Shalatin on the Egyptian Sudanese Red Sea border were the scene of a three-day cultural festival and arts festival. Sponsored by the Red Sea governorate and the General Organisation of Cultural Palaces, the festival hosted art exhibitions and song and dance shows.
Treasure in Madrid
Some 500 pieces of ancient Egyptian antiquities retrieved by divers from the Mediterranean seabed went on display in Madrid last Wednesday, in the city’s former slaughterhouse. “Egypt’s Sunken Treasures” exhibition, which was already shown in Berlin, Paris and Bonn, retraces 15 centuries of history, from the eighth century BC to the eighth century AD, French marine archaeologist Franck Goddio, who led the team that recovered the artefacts said. The artefacts are from the legendary lost cities of Herakleion and Canopis, the forerunner of present-day Alexandria, and disappeared in the eighth century when the cities sank due to an earthquake or some natural disaster. Spending thousands of hours under water in 2000, a French-led team of divers brought to the surface gold jewellery, coins, heads of sphinxes and the biggest statue of Hapi, the god of the Nile, ever found in Egypt. The exhibition runs till next September.