Diplomatic Brief

* World Food Day.
* Kidney dialysis machines from Japan
* Egyptian money in UK
* Cycling in Egypt
* The second CirCairo

World Food Day

The date 16 October Market World Food Day. In Egypt, the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation celebrated the day in with the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO).

Under the theme “Agricultural Cooperatives to Feed the World”, Megahed Ashouri, the FAO representative in Egypt said: “Small holders are those who provide us with food, and will provide food for some nine billion persons by 2050. The members of the cooperative are around billion persons and as per the latest statistics, the cooperatives generate 100 million employment opportunities all over the world”. The theme has been chosen to highlight the contribution of cooperatives to socio-economic development and promote their role, as multi service providers, in improving food security levels and eradicating hunger.

For his part, Regional Agro industry and infrastructure officer al-Hady Yehia pointed out that the wheat wasted in the Arab region amounts to some 16 tons annually. It is an amount that can be enough for feeding between 70 and 100 persons. He said: “The wasted wheat, tomato and orange in Egypt cost over EGP11 million annually. Solving the food problem is not only about increasing production but also about decreasing the wasted amount by half in Arab region within 10 years”. Yehia added that there is a strong need for spreading the awareness, guiding, changing the culture and apply the policies of limiting wasted food in the countries of the region. It is also important to improve the technology of exchanging and cooling the food and to increase the added value to the foods produced in the Arab region.

Kidney dialysis machines from Japan

The Embassy of Japan in Egypt has granted USD 82,666 for the purpose of purchasing eight dialysis machines for the Central Hospital in the town of Tala in Menoufiya in the Delta. The grant is part of the Japanese government programme for grants to NGOs, which started in Egypt in 1994 through and has so far achieved 129 projects at the cost of some USD5 million.

Last week Ambassador Norihiro Okuda of Japan delivered the eight machines to al-Sadat Association for Social Development and Care in Menoufiya in the Delta. Ambassador Okuda and Anwar al-Sadat, Chairman of the association, talked about the Japanese gift, and met the patients using the kidney dialysis machines.

Egyptian money in UK

Last week, the UK ambassador to Egypt James Watt reviewed with Vice President Mahmoud Mekki at the presidential palace in Cairo the question of Egyptian frozen assets in the UK, which belonged to members of the previous regime. They looked into ways of cooperation to define and list illegaly-acquired funds and take the necessary legal procedures to return them to Egypt.

Mr Watt referred to the strict instructions given by the UK PM Cameron to his government on that head, and his assignment of a Cabinet member to be in charge of the matter. A member of the UK prosecution will visit Egypt, he said, to work closely with his Egyptian counterparts on the investigations.

Cycling in Egypt

The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Egypt and the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo (NVIC), in cooperation with the Green Arm of Egyptian NGO Nahdet al-Mahrousa, organised an event in Cairo on the role of cycling in transportation.

On 18 October, Ambassador of the Netherlands Gerard Steeghs opened a seminar on “Cycling in Egypt? Cycling as a Mean of Transport” as an idea to improve Cairo’s congested traffic. During the seminar, transport experts and stakeholders from Egypt and the Netherlands shared their experience, ideas and research related to integrating the bicycle in urban traffic policy.

The seminar focused on non-motorised transport, like cycling and walking, and how those can be planned into a coherent transportation policy in cities to solve traffic problems, reduce pollution and decrease fuel consumption. It also tackled the general urban planning theories and how cycling can be incorporated into such a policy and the challenges for urban planning in Cairo to develop infrastructure for cycling.

Khaled Abbas, Dean of National Institute of Transport tackled the ways of propagating the idea as a step to solve the traffic problem. He declared that the traditional strategy of more and wider roads and streets and bridges applied over the last years to solve traffic problem did not provide long-range solutions, but only consumed enormous funds and land, and was not kind to the environment.

Following the seminar, on the 19th of October, the Embassy and Green Arm organised a cycling tour to attract attention for the potential role of bicycles as a means of transport in Cairo.

The second CirCairo

For the second year in a row, the al-Mawrid al-Thaqafi (Cultural Resource) is presenting CirCairo, the Cairo International Circus Festival, which runs from 4 to 20 October. Performances, walkabouts, workshops, and public talks are held in Cairo, and the Delta towns of Mansoura and Menoufiya.

Participating circus groups number some 13 who come from nine countries: Belgium, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Switzerland, and Tunisia. Performances are presented in several theatres in Cairo, as well as public spaces such as Abdin Square and al-Azhar Park in Cairo, Shagaret al-Durr park in Mansoura, and Shebin al-Koum stadium in Menoufiya.