WATANI International
25 September 2011
Hepatic viruses broached
The 13th Conference of the Egyptian Society of Liver, Digestive System and Infectious Diseases was held in Cairo earlier this month. Doctors from Africa, Oman, Sweden, Emirates and Denmark participated in the three-day conference which was opened by the Minister of Health and Population. Among the most significant topics broached by the attendants was the treatment of hepatic viruses. Hepatitis in its various forms is widespread among the Egyptian population.
Mahfouz’s centenary
Sunday 11 September witnessed a celebration at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina to mark the 100th birthday of the Egyptian Nobel Laureate Naguib Mahfouz (1911 – 2006). The event was held at the Bibliotheca’s Cairo venue, the renovated 18th-century house of al-Sinnary. Seminars on Mahfouz’s literature were held, as well as an exhibition of his photographs and posters of films based on his novels. The celebration included the screening of documentaries on Mahfouz and feature films of his novels.
2,198 new jobs
The first two weeks in September saw the establishment of 249 new companies, a report by the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI) declared. Among these, 44 are service companies, 40 are multi-activity, 32 industrial, eight IT and communications, three construction, two tourism and two agricultural companies. The total capital of the newly established companies amounts to some EGP2,330 million, and they are expected to provide 2,198 jobs.
55 million barrels of oil reserves
The petroleum sector scored an increase in the reserves of Khalda Oil Company of the Western Desert reaching 122 billion cubic feet of gas and 32 million barrels of crude oil, which accounts for 55 million equivalent barrels. Khalda Oil Company, said its chairman Osama al-Baqli, drilled 27 exploratory wells and enhanced the production of already existing ones during 2010 and 2011.
Italian meals for schoolchildren
An agreement was signed last weekend by the Minister of International Cooperation Fayza Abul-Naga, the Italian ambassador to Cairo Claudio Pacifico, and the World Food Program (WFP) representative in Egypt Gianpietro Bordignon, according to which schoolchildren in Fayoum, some 100km southeast Cairo, will be given free meals. The Italian government is financing the venture as part of a debt swap agreement to the tune of EGP20 million.
The Italian government is also allocating some EGP37 million as a grant to set up fisheries and training centres by the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. The project is expected to provide some 120 job opportunities, and may be extended to the waters east of Suez and west of Marsa Matrouh on the Mediterranean northwest coast.
122 artefacts from Australia
The Egyptian embassy in Australia has been handed 122 artifacts seized by Australian authorities in Canberra before being put up for sale last November. An embassy statement earlier this month said that Australia seized the objects at an official request by Egypt. The artefacts date back to Pharaonic, Greek and Roman ages.