Egyptian cotton
Some 661,000 qintars of Egyptian cotton have been exported to 24 countries, at a total $171,120,000. Chairman of the Cotton Authority Tharwat al-Menyawi said that, at 33 per cent of the total quantity of cotton exported by Egypt, Pakistan topped the list of importers, followed by India at 27 per cent, then Switzerland by 16 per cent. Other importers included the United States, South Africa and Taiwan.
Developing Cairo
The General Authority of Urban Planning has signed an agreement with the United Nations Development Program and the United Nations Human Settlements Program to prepare a strategic plan for developing the Greater Cairo urban community. The UNDP and the UNHSP will offer technical assistance to the Egyptian GAUP to implement projects for the development of such areas in Greater Cairo as Giza and Shubral-Kheima, said Cabinet Spokesman Magdi Radi. Urban development, he said, pre-requires a social dialogue involving governmental and non-governmental bodies in order to agree on priority ventures.
Grassroots projects
Earlier this month Japan signed contracts with two NGOs, the Gafar Local Community Development Association in Beni Sweif and al-Salam Association for Social Care in Assiut. The first extends a Japanese grant of $67,053 for villagers to purchase a tractor, mixing machine, choppers, a generator and a water tank to turn garbage into compost. The second contract provides $85,664 to supply school desks and chairs for some 20,000 students of the town of al-Badari in Assiut. The grants come under the Japanese Government’s Assistance Scheme for Grassroots Projects which began in Egypt in 1994 and has served to implement 113 projects at a total cost of some $4.3 million. It has acquired excellent reputation because of its flexibility and timeliness.
Tube in the pipeline
The Ministry of Transportation and Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation have signed a contract to establish the first phase of the third route of the Greater Cairo subway. Extending from Attaba to Abbasiya, it will take some 48 months to complete. The second phase will be inaugurated two years later and will run from Abbasiya to Heliopolis. The third and fourth phases—scheduled for completion in 2021—will extend the subway from the west of Cairo to the airport east of the city, covering 24.2km and serving some two million commuters daily.
Alex lighthouse
Minister of Culture Farouq Hosni has agreed to forming a joint Egyptian-French mission to salvage what remains of Alexandria’s ancient Pharos. The old lighthouse was in Alexandria’s Eastern harbour which today lies off the coastline of Downtown Alexandria. Ahmed Shueib, head of the Egyptian mission, said that most of the lighthouse original stones were discovered under the water of the Eastern harbour, and it is hoped the remaining ones will be found. The project is expected to take some three years to complete.
Egyptian glass
A team of archaeologists led by Cardiff University professor Paul Nicholson has rebuilt an ancient glass furnace using local sand near an excavated site in Egypt following the same methods used by Egyptians some 3,000 years ago, and proving that ancient Egyptians did not import glass but made it themselves. The team was working on the world’s earliest glassmaking site on the Nile bank at Amarna in Minya, some 312km south of Cairo. The site dates back to the reign of Akhanaten (1352 – 1336 BC). The glassmaking workshop was part of an industrial complex that involved other high temperature manufacturing processes including a potter’s workshop and facilities for making blue pigment and faience.