WATANI International
6 June 2010
First African sports court
The foundation stone of the premises of the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Africa, a branch of the same court in Switzerland, has been laid in the satellite town of 6 October, west of Cairo. Taking part in the ceremony were Hassan Saqr, head of the National Sports Council; Lassana Palenfo, head of the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA); and Fathi Saad, governor of 6 October. The ANOCA had last March approved Cairo as the seat of the court.
MOC 2010
The 6th Mediterranean Offshore Conference and Exhibition (MOC) 2010 was recently held in Alexandria under the rubric “The Mediterranean: Challenges, Opportunities, Solutions”. The three-day event, which was opened by Oil Minister Sameh Fahmi, saw the participation of representatives from 20 countries from around the world. Organised by the Egyptian Petroleum Sector in partnership with the International Exhibition Services, MOC 2010 presented the latest discoveries on the southern Mediterranean basin, and discussed the latest state-of-the-art technology in the field.
Maritime trade
Egypt took part last week in the 8th Forum for transport and logistics for Mediterranean countries in Barcelona. The forum addressed the future structure of the maritime sector and the importance of the Arab region as a focal trade route between Europe and the Middle and Far East, especially with the growing importance of China and India as economic powers.
Nuclear training
The second Egyptian-Russian School was recently held for three weeks at the Nuclear Research Institute in the Russian town of Dubna. Some 16 researchers from Egyptian universities, the American University in Cairo, and Egyptian research centres trained in the fields of advanced nuclear engineering and sciences.
Egypt-China navigation
An Egyptian-Chinese maritime transportation company was recently established under the name “Yang Mang Egypt”. The new company will provide a weekly maritime service between the Egyptian ports of Port Said, Damietta, Ain Sukhna, and Alexandria and 35 international ports.
Musically yours, from Heliopolis
The Heliopolis Association (HA) is celebrating its 29th anniversary this month. To mark the occasion, a festival for world music will be held in the garden of the Baron Palace—the palace built by Baron Empain, the founder of Heliopolis as a Cairo eastern suburb at the turn of the 20th century. With Mrs Suzanne Mubarak at its head, the HA is organising the celebration jointly with the Suzanne Mubarak International Women Movement for Peace, under the motto: Music is the language which unites nations into one world.
African tannoura
Last week saw the participation of the folk dance group, the Tannoura Troupe, in the international festival for youth and world civilisations in Ankara, Turkey. The group, which has represented Egypt for the third successive year, gave five performances, one of which marked the Africa Day which was organised by the Egyptian embassy in Ankara.