WATANI International
11 September 2011
Operation Close Tunnels
Egypt’s military has begun an operation to close the network of smuggling tunnels under the Egypt-Gaza border. Hundreds of tunnels snake under the 9-mile border, where smugglers bring Gaza supplies and fuel limited by an Israeli blockade. Israel claims that Gaza’s Islamist Hamas rulers get weapons, ammunition and rockets through the tunnels and smuggle militants out. Egyptian officials have said that three mechanised sensors were activated this week to identify tunnel locations and mark them for destruction.
Euromed in Alex
Egypt will host the Euromed summit in Alexandria on 21-22 September, under the auspices of Premier Essam Sharaf, and with the participation of the chairmen of the EU and south Mediterranean federations of industry and commerce. Egyptian ministers as well as more than 400 senior Egyptian officials from the industry, trade and investment sector will attend. According to Galal al-Zorba, chairman of the Federation of Egyptian Industries (EFI), the summit will offer the Egyptian economy an invaluable opportunity to restore growth rates.
Radiation monitoring in Sinai
The Atomic Energy Agency has started a project to repair some 15 radiation monitoring stations in the Sinai Peninsula, which had gone out of service during the unrest that followed the 25 January Revolution. The power and communication cables connecting the stations to the national grid had been stolen. The Sinai radiation monitoring stations are part of a 97-station nationwide network.
Nile Basin officer
For the first time in its history, and with a view to Egypt’s national water security and the future of its relation with other Nile Basin countries, the Ministry of Water Resources has created a post of Chairman of the Nile Water Sector. The ministry will be shortly holding tests among 11 applicants from among its experts who worked before in the Nile Basin Initiative to name an official for the post.
Tourists at Hurghada
Some 88 international flights carrying 13,000 tourists arrived at Hurghada Airport on the first Friday of this month, amid expectations of recovery of tourism in Egypt. General Hisham al-Husseini, the acting director of Hurghada Airport said that the airport has seen the largest rate of international flights as well as internal flights carrying about 2,800 Egyptians.
EGP 3bn for container terminal
Chairman of the Holding Company for Maritime and Land Transport Mohamed Youssef said that the investment plan of the company includes establishing a new containers terminal in East Port Said port. The project, he said, came within the framework of carrying out the third stage of developing the port, at a cost of EGP 3 billion.
Engineering Day
Last Tuesday saw the Premier Essam Sharaf, open the ceremony to mark the 10th round of the Egyptian Engineering Day held by Power and Electronics Society, celebrated annually. Graduation projects of Faculty of Engineering students were introduced to the industrial sector where they have a potential to be exploited. Seminars were held to shed light on the current market orientations and job opportunities. Dr Sharaf is himself an engineering school graduate.
Al-Azhar’s manuscript library
The topmost scholarly centre of Sunni Islam, al-Azhar, held a recent celebration to launch an online version of its rare Islamic Library. The online library is the fruit of a project for digitising the collection of manuscripts owned by al-Azhar and posting it online, generously financed by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum at a cost of EGP38 million. This project allows researchers and scholars worldwide access to the invaluable manuscript collection.