WATANI International
12 July 2009
French suspects expelled
About 20 French Muslims detained in the investigation into the Cairo bombing at the historical district of al-Hussein last February, in which a 17-year-old French girl lost her life, have been expelled out of the country. No charges were filed against them but they were considered religious extremists and undesirable in Egypt.
IPO for life
Egypt’s state-owned Misr Insurance may launch an initial public offering of its life unit by July 2010, but the State will keep a majority, the Insurance Holding Company chairman Mahmoud Abdallah has said. Asked how much would be offered in the IPO, he said: “That all depends on the market appetite, but we have no intention of losing control.”
First gold
Egypt’s first modern commercial gold mine, the Sukari mine in the Eastern Desert, poured its first gold last week. Gold producer Centamin Egypt, which operates the mine and rates its reserves at 6.4 million ounces, announced it would raise gross proceeds of USD26 million from a private placement of 19 million shares, which it plans to use for continued exploration and general corporate purposes. It also declared it remained committed to ramping up Sukari to full production towards the end of 2009.
Mobile Banking
Egypt’s Orascom Telecom earlier this month said it had launched a mobile banking operation via its Pakistani subsidiary Mobilink, widening access to banking in a country with limited penetration. The service is being provided together with Citibank under an arrangement endorsed by the State Bank of Pakistan. Mobilink customers will be able to open branchless bank accounts, maintain them via phone and transfer money to other Mobilink customers via SMS.
Under sponsorship of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), a conference recently held in Cairo discussed the protection of the financial interests and aid money of the European Union in the Middle East and North Africa. Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, and Tunisia were represented, as well as a number of international organisations. OLAF fights fraud, corruption and irregular activity, in an accountable, transparent and cost-effective manner. Ashraf Abdel-Wahab of the Administrative Development Ministry said Egypt had no specific law for combating corruption, but incorporates this within other laws. There are in Egypt, he said, more than 20 watchdog institutions.
Oil and gas finds
Italy’s Edison reported two oil and natural gas discoveries in the Gulf of Abu-Qir, east of Alexandria, and in the Western Desert. The Abu-Qir discovery will secure a half trillion cubic metres of natural gas, according to Edison, whereas the Western Desert oilfield has some six million barrel reserves.
Upgrade Egyptian railways
Egypt and Italy have signed an agreement according to which Italy would fund the refurbishment of the Egyptian Railway Authority through some eight million Euros and 10 expert engineers. The overhauling process, Transportation Minister Lutfi Mansour said, focuses on safety and security.
A million books
The National Council for Youth, as recently declared by its president Mohamed Safeieddin Kharboosh is joining the Million Book Campaign, launched by Mrs Suzanne Mubarak last year, to distribute a million books, free of charge, to young men and women. The campaign is meant to compliment the Reading for All movement, also launched by Mrs Mubarak, which involves the production of books at affordable prices, and which has been a huge success in promoting reading within underprivileged sectors for whom the purchase of books is a low priority.
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