WATANI International
22 February 2009
Vaccine grant
France has granted Egypt 24.5 million doses of bird flu vaccine, the cost of which amounts to more than one million Euros. The French government had bought the vaccine in 2006 from Intervert laboratories due to the incidence of bird flu in France but, since no cases appeared during the following years, the French government decided to grant the vaccine to Egypt. The vaccine, which arrived last October and expires next March, has been distributed to hospitals all around Egypt.
A two-year-old boy who was recently hospitalised with bird flu brought the number of reported cases to 54 since the illness appeared in Egypt two years ago. So far, 22 people died of bird flu. Health officials warn of a resurgence of the disease since poultry shops, individual chicken-coop keepers, and bird collectors who frequently handle dead birds are exposed to the virus.
Eyeing the region
Telecom Egypt, the largest Arab fixed-line phone operator by subscribers, is still looking to buy a telecom firm in the region to reduce dependence on its home market, its chairman recently said. The company said in August it could spend at least $1billion on an acquisition in the Middle East or North Africa. The telcom firm faces market saturation in Egypt where it has a monopoly.
Gas find
UAE-based Dana Gas has made a gas and condensate discovery in Egypt that could double its gas reserves in the North African country. The discovery was made at the Salma-1 well in the West Qantara Concession and is expected to add over 200 billion cubic feet of gas to reserves, the company said. Dana made four gas discoveries in Egypt last year, the most recent in December at the El-Basant II well, located in the West Manzala Concession.
For tourism and schools
Temsa Global, manufacturer of buses, coaches and light vehicles, has officially launched its $25 million factory in Egypt to become the first Turkish coach manufacturer in the Middle East, company officials said. The factory, which began operation in April last year, has a capacity of manufacturing 1,000 units of medium sized coaches every year and employs a workforce of 750. Temsa Global officials said the tourism and education sectors would be their main target markets, remarking that there was good potential for growth in the region due to the lack of high quality, medium priced coaches. Established in 1968, the company produces 16,000 units every year, of which it exports more than 75 per cent.
FIFA seat
Egyptian Football Association vice-president Hani Abu-Reida has been voted as the North Africa representative in the International Federation of Football Association’s (FIFA) executive committee. He was voted ahead of Tunisia’s Selim Shayboub with a difference of 34 votes. Abu-Reida is also head of Egypt’s Under 21 World Cup organising committee.
Mother and child
The Japanese Embassy in Cairo and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) recently celebrated the graduation of a class of nurses from Upper Egypt who completed a training course in maternal and child health. The course was offered by UNICEF as a part of Mother and Child Health Project which aims at contributing to Egypt’s effort to achieve two of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), reducing child mortality and maternal mortality. The Japanese Government extended a grant of some $1.87 million US for the project. Japan also supported a UNICEF project to set up and equip four prenatal and neonatal centres in the Upper Egyptian cities of Qena, Sohag, Assiut and Minya.