* Egypt not too risky
* Supporting child education in Luxor
* Language as a bridge between Egypt and South Korea
Egypt not too risky
The Japanese government has officially decreased the level of warning to Japanese citizens against visiting Egypt, except for Sinai Peninsula and the border with Libya.
The Japanese Ambassador to Cairo, Norihiro Okuda, informed the Egyptian Minister of Tourism Hisham Zaazou of his government’s decision in a recent meeting. Mr Okuda said he hoped that the number of Japanese tourists to Egypt would rise, and that the Egyptian government would exert more effort to improve the security situation in the country and recover its tourism industry.
Supporting child education in Luxor
For the second year in succession, the United Nation’s World Food Programme (WFP) has signed a partnership agreement with Banque Du Caire to provide nutritious snacks to nursery children in Luxor, Upper Egypt.
Banque Du Caire granted WFP EGP300,000 (US $51,000) to provide a nutritious morning snack to 4,600 children in 60 nursery classes in Luxor. The snack is fortified with vitamin A and iron to fight short-term hunger and help children focus better on what they are learning.
The provision of a daily snack should encourage enrolment and regular attendance of nursery children.
“This snack addresses around 25 per cent of the child’s nutritional daily needs. Research has demonstrated that the right food at the right time, especially in early childhood, ensures good mental and physical growth and has a long reach into later life,” said WFP Egypt Representative and Country Director Gianpietro Bordignon. “That’s why nursery age is a prime time to invest in the mental and physical development of children.”
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Banque Du Caire Mounir al-Zahid said the project contributes to the wellbeing and health of very young children, while encouraging them to go to school at an early age. “We are very proud not only to be the first bank in Egypt to respond and contribute to this great cause but also to continue our support to ensure the desired impact on those children ,” he said.
Within the close coordination between the Egyptian government and WFP, the government requested WFP’s assistance in designing a new public-private partnership to enhance school meal activities nationwide. Banque Du Caire responded promptly and generously to the government’s suggestion that banking sector leaders could pioneer this new initiative.
The project ultimately supports the government’s efforts to improve the quality of education by 2015, in line with the international targets laid out in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.
WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. Each year, on average, WFP feeds more than 90 million people in more than 70 countries.
Language as a bridge between Egypt and South Korea
The Korean cultural advisor Park Jae Young has applauded the Nile Educational Channels TV programme for teaching ‘rare’ languages to Egyptians people, stressing on the importance of common language in creating and maintaining relations between peoples.
The World Languages programme, in its first episode on Sunday 2 September, presented the first lesson in learning Korean: the Korean alphabet. Mr Young expressed his gratefulness to the Nile Educational Channels and to Korean language professors at Ain Shams University’s Faculty of Alsun (literally tongues, meaning languages) for preparing and presenting the programme which is aired every Saturday. He said that Egyptian young people who learn Korean could strongly contribute to the friendship and cooperation between Egypt and South Korea. On the other hand, he said, Koreans are interested in studying the Arabic language. There are four departments in Korean universities that teach Arabic language, and many Koreans visit Egypt to learn Egyptian Arabic language.
WATANI International
8 September 2012