Today, 2 October, is Mahatma Gandhi Day—the day he was born in 1869—as declared since 2007 by the UN. In Cairo, India’s ambassador Navdeep Suri held a press conference in
Today, 2 October, is Mahatma Gandhi Day—the day he was born in 1869—as declared since 2007 by the UN. In Cairo, India’s ambassador Navdeep Suri held a press conference in which he talked of the parallels between Gandhi’s thought and the principles of the 25 January 2011 Revolution. Mr Suri announced the launching of a contest to design a poster under the theme: “Did you feel the spirit of Gandhi soaring over Tahrir Square?” The first three winners will be granted monetary prizes, and the outstanding works submitted will be displayed in an exhibition in Cairo on 25 January 2013.
Egypt not entitled
The UK ambassador to Cairo today said that the post-2011 Revolution Egyptian governments have to date offered no sufficient information on the frozen Egyptian assets in the UK, or evidence of the State being entitled to them. Investigations regarding these assets, he said, have to date not been completed. The UK, he said, needs sufficient evidence that these assets are illegitimate for it to have them returned to Egypt. Mr Watt explained that the matter is rather complicated, and is entirely in the hands of the UK judiciary. The media, he said, can do nothing about it.
Water, water…
The issue of water management, including the rational use of ground water, wastewater management, and water desalination topped the discussions between the Minister of Water Resources Mahmoud Saad and India’s ambassador to Cairo Navdeep Suri earlier this month.
Suri and the Saad also discussed possible areas for cooperation in the field of remote sensing technology using Indian satellites. Saad appreciated the training programmes offered by India and told Suri that many of his colleagues benefitted from it.
Kirloskar Brothers, a leading pump maker that has been working in Egypt for 50 years and today has 200 installations running more than 100,000 pumps on the Nile River, and is completing two major assignments in Aswan and Luxor, will be celebrating its 50th anniversary in Egypt next November. In the pipeline is a plan by Kirloskar to inaugurate a service centre in Egypt. Suri invited Saad to attend the ceremony as Guest of Honour.
Taekwondo for all
The Korean Embassy in Cairo, in cooperation with the Egyptian Taekwondo Federation, recently organised the second Global Taekwondo Course at the Taekwondo Training Hall in Fayoum.
Under the supervision of Korean instructors, some 120 trainees of all age groups participated in this course, which aims to encourage young Egyptians to practise Taekwondo. At the end of the course, participants were given their awards by cultural and information counsellor Park Jae Yang, who expressed his admiration of the advanced level of the participants. Yang saidthat this course, which is held annually, comes within the framework of the embassy##s efforts to spread Taekwondo in Egypt. A similar course was held in Ismailiya on 24
September and another one will be held from 6th to 10th of October. Yang pointed out that the 8th Taekwondo Ambassador Cup championship will be held next November and invited all Taekwondo players in Egypt to participate in it.
Calls to refuse ending FGM criminalisation
In a press conference held on 20 September at the UN office in Cairo, gynecologists representing members of The Egyptian Society of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics in Egyptian Universities, Ministry of Health and Population Hospitals, Teaching Hospitals, Military and Police Hospitals issued a declaration in the wake of a recent convocation to perform Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and to cancel the law that bans it and criminalises those who perform it.
UNICEF Representative Philippe Duamelle said: “There is already a law that crimialises FGM; but we recently heard announcements from people who reflect only their personal opinions. It seemed from their declarations that the causes we are speaking about now are not clear enough for them. Here comes the role of this conference because it explains the causes that some do not know and it presents the proofs for the necessity of immediately ceasing such practice because it is non-essential practice that affects girls psychologically in addition to its bad effect on their health.”
Duamelle declared that FGM is practiced in very few countries and some years ago this phenomenon started to decrease especially in Egypt so it is not good at all that Egypt takes steps backward.
Egypt US partnership to benefit 1.7 million farmers
Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Mohamed-Bahaa Eddin and the USAID Director Walter North participated in a recent workshop to review the results of the joint efforts of Egyptian and US water experts to help conserve and manage water for Egyptian farmers.
The eight-year programme helped in improving water use efficiency and productivity by promoting farmer participation in democratic Branch Canal Water User Associations. The water users in the programme area formed partnerships with water management districts to jointly address water distribution, maintenance of branch canals, and issues regarding water usage.
“This program has improved the efficiency and equity of water distribution in Egypt##s agriculture sector,” stated Walter North, USAID Mission Director. “The Ministry##s results – reduced maintenance costs, improved water quality, and more timely responses to water delivery problems – had a positive impact on the lives of millions of Egyptians.”
The programme directly benefited 1.7 million farmers in 13 governorates in East Delta and Upper Egypt, including over 42 per cent of Egypt##s irrigated agricultural lands. USAID will focus future agricultural support on helping Egypt##s farmers increase their incomes while reducing the amount of water they use to promote a secure food supply and economic growth.
940 million Euros for “Revolution line”
The Delegation of the European Union and the French Development Agency (AFD) signed an agreement for the sum of 940 million Euros (more than 7 billion Egyptian Pounds) with Egypt on 23 September 2012, to fund the third phase of Greater Cairo metro line 3 (Revolution line).
For this signing, which represents nearly half of the French commitments allocated for Egypt during the Deauville summit in May 2011 to support the Arab spring, the Chief Executive Officer of AFD paid a special visit to Egypt. The agreement was signed between Dov Zerah, AFD Chef Executive Officer; Armelle Lidou, acting Head of the Operations at the Delegation of the European Union in Egypt; and Ashraf al-Arabi, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation.
The objectives of the third phase of Greater Cairo metro (Line 3) project are to contribute to economic growth by reducing urban congestion, thus, increasing labour productivity; to improve the livelihoods of Cairo’s socially disadvantaged population by enhancing their mobility, thus, access to education, jobs and other services; and to mitigate climate change and pollution by providing more environmentally sustainable means of urban transport.
Built since the beginning of 1980’s initially with French financing, the two existing Cairo metro lines carry more than 3 million passengers a day on a 6 km network. The third line (recently named “Revolution line”), whose first phase (from Attaba in Downtown Cairo to Abbassiya east of Cairo) was inaugurated in March 2012, will carry up to 1.8 million passengers everyday on an East-West axis. The 18km of the third phase of this line will connect Downtown to Zamalek and Giza through two branches, one Northward to Imbaba and one Southward to Cairo University. It is a mix of tunnel.
The total estimated cost of the project is around 2 billion Euros.
The financing plan of the project includes a € 40 million grant from the European Union through the Neighbourhood Investment facility (NIF), a 300 million Euros soft loan from the French Development Agency (AFD), a € 600 million soft loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB), resulting in a package equivalent to a € 940 million loan on 25 years (with 7 years grace period) with less than 2 per cent interest rate.
International bids for the works should be launched by the beginning of 2013, and the implementation of the project is expected to take eight years.
Dutch in Egypt
The month of October will treat Egyptian audiences to several activities of Dutch participation in cultural events in Cairo, Alexandria, and the Delta town of Mansoura. The Embassy of the Netherlands in Cairo has been pivotal in arranging for the activities which should act as a bridge between Egypt and the Netherlands.
At CimaThec in Downtown Cairo, Igor Dobricic (Serbia, Netherlands) will be taking part in the TransDance 2012 festival which runs till 8 October.
Tomorrow, Thursday 4 October, will see the Dutch singer Minyeshu join her Egyptian counterpart Dina al-Wedidi in a joint performance at Teatro Eskendria. The performance will be shown within the fourth edition of the Anna Lindh-sponsored annual festival of Farah al-Bahr (literally, joy of the sea) in Alexandria.
Also on Thursday, the Dutch circus group Rebel Act will be taking part in the openingceremony in Abdin Square of the second edition of the Cairo international circus festival CirCairo 2012. The following Thursday, the same act will be shown at Shagaret al-Durr park in Mansoura.
Dutch filmmaking will be showcased within the activities of the Panorama of European Film 2012 which will be held in Cairo, organized by MisrEuro Films, from 3 to 9 October, Two Dutch films will be screened: Taped and Cool kids don##t cry.
And from 11 to 13 October in Mansoura, Alexandria, and Cairo successively, “6 Spoons, 1
Kitchen” sextet will be performing revolutionary jazz creations within the ArtBeat festival.
WATANI International
3 October 2012