WATANI International
10 July 2011
Nile transportation
An agreement was signed between Egypt and the European Investment Bank whereby the EIB will extend USD21 million in loan to finance river transport projects and to buy and manufacture new units to support the fleet of river transport in Egypt. At the signing ceremony, Water Resources Minister Hussein al-Atfi stressed the government’s keenness to support river transportation to carry goods to various parts of Egypt, explaining that river transport costs are lower than other transportation means by almost 30 per cent.
Egypt – Algeria
From 3 July and until next Tuesday, Egypt participates in the cultural festival in Algiers. In addition to an art exhibition and poetry recital evenings, a symposium on Egyptian-Algerian relations I being held. Relations between Egypt and Algeria had suffered a severe setback in 2009 and 2010 in the wake of a football game which involved rioting by the fans of both teams and which Algeria finally won. The souring relations spilled over into the economy sector, and Egyptian investments in Algeria were attacked.
Talking antiquities in Peru
The second international conference on restoring stolen antiquities was last week held in the Peruvian capital, Lima. State Minister for Antiquities Zahi Hawwas addressed the representatives of more than 20 countries in the opening speech of the two-day conference. The first such conference was held in Cairo in April 2010 with the participation of 30 countries.
USD 11 billion
In response to the British government’s call on British companies to increase long-term investment in Egypt, British Petroleum (BP) has decided to pump USD11 billion in investments in the northwestern Nile Delta. In this respect, the UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) authority had decided to place Egypt among the top countries British companies must think of when considering long-term investments.