Egypt

Egypt cited as a market to watch in the mid-to-long term

HotelierMiddleEast.com by Derek Issacs

In his interview with Hotelier, Christopher Lund, head of hospitality at Colliers International MENA, revealed that Egypt is a market to watch due to renewed efforts by the Egyptian Tourism Ministry to strongly market and diversity the offering, as well as targeting new source markets.

Lund, who also mentioned that 2019 is expected to remain a challenging environment for hoteliers, said that such efforts by the Egyptian Tourism Industry were already beginning to bear fruit, which he says has been  illustrated by the surge in tourism demand seen recently across the country.

The findings were reiterated by online news portal Hotel News Now, which said: “Egypt’s hotel fundamentals are recovering as tourists return.”  The report cited a number of factors for the recovery of the North Africa country and its growth in hotel development, which included: “hotel firms domestic and international can now own 100% of a hotel’s operation and real estate, return on investment can be repatriated effortlessly, new investment laws passed in 2017 have settled nerves, a growing Egyptian middle class, and the return of international travellers following terrorist incidents, including the October 2015 attack on a Russian aircraft over the Sinai Peninsula.”

The online portal cited Karl Lerner, founder and chairman of Cairo-based hotel consultancy Impact and an Austrian who has lived in Egypt since 1989, as saying that the main obstacle [to Egypt’s tourism growth] is the country’s high interest rate. “If you are working with local currency, that makes it a little difficult, but of course you do not have to do that,” he said t. “Egypt has more transparency, and administrational barriers have been streamlined. There are open minds here, and the government understands how important the need is to grow the economy,” he was reported as saying.

The report also cited data from STR, the parent company of the online portal, which revealed an increase in all three major metrics of Egyptian hotel performance. “In October 2018, hotel occupancy for all of Egypt increased 17.3% year over year to 63.6%, while average daily rate (ADR) has jumped 14.5% to 1,328.91 Egyptian pounds ($74.09) and revenue per available room grew 34.3% to 844.93 Egyptian pounds ($47.11),” said the report.

Figures for Cairo were also revealed, illustrating that “occupancy increased 10.1% in October to 71.2%, while ADR rose 7.9% to 1,671.10 Egyptian pounds ($93.17) and RevPAR grew 18.7% to 1,189.22 Egyptian pounds ($66.30).”

Speaking about the medium-to-long term outlook for the entire region in general including Egypt, Christopher Lund pointed out that the medium to long-term outlook is much brighter, citing governmental tourism initiatives as a deciding factor.   

via www.hoteliermiddleeast.com

هي جت عليه انا؟

الاهرام اليومي بقلم د. عزة رضوان صدقى 

فى العالم الغربى رأيت سيدة مسنة تكاد لا تستطيع الوقوف، تكنس بئر السلم وبسطة الدور حتى الشارع أمام منزلها، أما فى بلادنا فالمشاع المتمثل فى مدخل العمارة أو المصعد أو المنور لا يمثل شيئا مهما أو ملموسا لمعظم سكان المكان، مع العلم أنهم يبذلون مجهودا جبارا لإبقاء داخل منازلهم نظيفا. الأجنبى يمسك غلاف الحلوى أو منديل الورق فى يده حتى يصل إلى صندوق القمامة البعيد ليلقيها هناك، وفى بلادنا الرجل الأنيق يرمى عقب سيجارته من سيارته الفخمة فى وسط الشارع، غير مبالٍ أن أولاده آنذاك يتفهمون أن رمى كيس الشيبسى من نافذة العربة شيء مقبول وعادى. عند انتقاد هؤلاء يقولون: هى جت عليّ أنا؟ ما الكل بيعمل كده.

رأيت فى البلاد الأخرى البعض لا ينجبون أطفالا عدة خوفا على العالم من التكدس أو خوفا من استقدام أطفال إلى عالم مضطرب أو خوفا من عدم توفر الحياة الكريمة لهم وحارس عمارتنا أنجب خمسة أطفال، وعندما سُئل عن قدرته الشخصية وقدرة البلد على احتواء هذا الكم من الأطفال قال «بييجو برزقهم، هى جت عليّ أنا»؟

فى بلاد العالم يلتزم السائق بحارته ولا يستعمل الموبايل عند القيادة ويركز على الطريق، أما نحن فلا نبالى بالطريق أو حارات السير. يلبس الأجنبى حزام المقعد تلقائيا، وفى بلادنا سائق التاكسى يقول: مش لبسه ده بيخنقنى، هى جت عليّ أنا؟.

نحن لا نعير التلوث البيئى أى اهتمام بينما الأجنبى يعتبر الجمال من أهم الأشياء. لا نعير النظافة خارج منازلنا أى اهتمام والأجنبى يعيرها كل الاهتمام. تمتلئ شواطئنا بأكياس البلاستيك، بينما العالم يحاول باستماتة التقليل من استعمال البلاستيك.

لماذا يتدهور حال مكاتبنا الحكومية ووسائل نقلنا العام ومبانينا وشوارعنا فور الانتهاء من إنشائها أو ترميمها؟ بينما يلتزم المصرى بقوانين البلاد الأخرى ويكون بمثابة الضيف المثالى أينما ذهب، مع أنه لا يكون للقانون أى أهمية أو احترام فى بلده؟. هل هو الفقر وقلة الموارد أم اللامبالاة أو عدم التوعية أو عدم الاهتمام إلا بأنفسنا، أم كل ذلك مجتمعا؟ هل تعوّدنا أن نأخذ مصر كأمر مسلّم به: موجودة حتروح فين يعني؟.

إن الفقر وعدم وجود الموارد المادية يلعبان دورا فى تلوث ما حولنا، ولكنهما ليسا بمثابة السبب الأهم حيث إن الفقير اليونانى والقبرصى والمكسيكى مكان إقامتهما صغير ومحدود ولكنهم يسعون إلى جعله نظيفا ومرتبا، والنوبى المصرى متوسط الحال يجمِّل منزله من الخارج وينظِّف من حوله. أما فى القاهرة فالبعض يكنس ويمسح أمام دكانه ثم يصب القاذورات فى الشارع، والبعض الآخر يرمى الزبالة من الشرفة.

أنا لا أعتقد أن الغربى يحب بلده أكثر من حب المصرى لمصر بل العكس صحيح، ففى الأزمات يكِّن المصرى لمصر حبا جما، فكيف نحوِّل هذا الحب إلى أفعال يومية ودائمة؟ كيف نجعله يرى أفعاله منعكسة على وجه مصر؟ إننا نحتاج إلى بث مسئولية الفرد فى المجتمع فإن المسئولية الاجتماعية والمشاركة والانتماء هى أسباب نضوج الأوطان وخروجها من أزماتها. كذلك فمن واجبنا بث روح المشاركة والتكافل والمسئولية فى شبابنا وأطفالنا عن طريق ما نفعله.

هناك مبادرات جميلة تتم من حولنا، ولابد أن نحيى هذه المبادرات حتى وإن كانت فردية لأنها تشجِّع على سلوكيات أفضل وتعوِّد على الأنظف والأجمل. شباب الثوره قرروا تنظيف ميدان التحرير وتجميله وتشجيع شباب آخرين لتنظيف شوارع القاهرة. طلبة كلية الفنون دهنوا سلالم المشاة حول الميادين بالألوان الزاهية فى لفتة جميلة منهم. أهل الزمالك من النساء والرجال نزلوا إلى شوارع منطقتهم وكلهم همة وحيوية وحملوا أدوات التنظيف ونظَّفوا المكان. والفريق المتطوع لتنظيف نهر النيل تمكن من ازالة اطنان من المخلفات، وأحياء عدة قام أهاليها بحملات تجميل وتنظيف مثل دهب والحى العاشر وحلوان والاقصر، ونتمنى أن تنتشر هذه الحملات وتتكرر مرات ومرات.

لكن فى نظرى أهم الحملات هى التى تبدأ من المدرسة. بإمكان المدرسة بث روح التجميل فى الطلبة وترشيد سلوكياتهم حتى تصبح عرفا مألوفا. بإمكان المدرسة أن تتضامن مع الطلبة والأسر بمبادرات تشجِّع الجميع على النظافة. اللافتات الإرشادية عن النظافة والسلوكيات الحسنة ليست كافية إلا إذا تضامنت المدرسة ككل لبث هذا الأسلوب وإعطاء الطلبة والطالبات أدوارا ريادية فى تزيين وتجميل وتنظيف مدارسهم وإرساء مفهوم المسئولية لديهم وتعزيز انتمائهم للحى والمدينة والوطن.

إن مبدأ هى جت عليّ أنا؟ مبدأ سقيم لابد أن يزول من أسلوب حياتنا. صحيح الطريق طويل حتى نتعوَّد أن نرى الجمال ونحترم القانون ونتبنى السلوكيات الجميلة ونتحمل المسئولية ولكننا لابد أن نبدأ من نقطة ما.

لمزيد من مقالات د. عزة رضوان صدقى

رابط دائم: 

Former Egyptian President Mubarak testifies in ousted President Morsi's retrial in "jailbreak case"

Xinhua | English.news.cn

Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (front) is seen in a court in Cairo, Egypt, Dec. 26, 2018. Mubarak testified on Wednesday in the retrial of ousted president Mohamed Morsi and others in the case known in the media as the "jailbreak trial," official Ahram Online website reported. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

CAIRO, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak testified on Wednesday in the retrial of ousted Islamist President Mohamed Morsi and others in the case known in the media as the "jailbreak trial," official Ahram Online website reported.

The case dates back to violent incidents surrounding a jail breakout after Jan. 28, 2011.

In June 2015, a Cairo criminal court sentenced Morsi and five other top Brotherhood figures to death over charges of damaging and setting fire to prison buildings, murder, attempted murder, looting prison weapons depots and releasing prisoners while escaping from the Wadi El-Natroun prison, north of the capital Cairo.

In November 2016, the Court of Cassation revoked death sentences and ordered retrials for Morsi and other defendants.

Morsi was deposed by the army in early July 2013, in response to mass protests against his one-year rule and his Muslim Brotherhood.

Mubarak, who was ousted during the January 2011 uprising, arrived to the court accompanied by his sons Gamal and Alaa.

After swearing the oath, Mubarak asked to be granted permission from the Egyptian president and the commandership of the Egyptian Armed Forces before revealing to the court information related to the tunnels between Gaza and Egypt, so as not to be violating the law, according to Ahram.

The prosecution has charged that supporters of the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood and the Palestinian Hamas movement infiltrated the Egypt-Gaza border through tunnels after the outbreak of the January revolution to storm jails and free imprisoned Brotherhood members.

However, the head judge told Mubarak that the court is seeking information not related to national security issues, and instructed Mubarak to answer questions.

Mubarak, who rarely makes media or public statements since his ouster, told the court that the tunnels between Gaza and Egypt had existed long before the Jan. 25 revolution and that they were mostly used to transfer food commodities and other goods.

When asked by the judge whether the tunnels were used during the early days of the revolution, Mubarak declined to answer without permission from the president and the commandership of the armed forces to speak on the matter.

Nevertheless, he stated that former head of the general intelligence service Omar Suleiman informed him on Jan. 29 2011 that about 800 militants had infiltrated the eastern border through the tunnels.

The 90-year-old former president added that "militants killed policemen and protesters in Tahrir Square, the birthplace of the 2011 anti-Mubarak uprising, creating chaos in the country," and that they broke out Muslim Brotherhood members from jails.

He said that he believes there are "lots of plots" but could not address them without a permission from the presidency.

Mubarak, who has been receiving treatment in a military hospital in Cairo, told the court that he "handed over the country" to the Egyptian armed forces so "Egypt won't fall."

The court adjourned the case to Jan. 24, 2019.

In March 2017, Mubarak was acquitted of the charges of killing protesters during the 2011 uprising that led to his ouster.

In September, an Egyptian court declined an appeal for reconciliation in a corruption case submitted by Mubarak and his two sons.

Mubarak and his two sons were sentenced in May 2015 to three years in prison for embezzling funds meant for maintaining presidential palaces.

They were also sentenced to collectively pay a fine of about 126 million Egyptian pounds (7 million U.S. dollars) and return about 21.2 million pounds.

Gamal and Alaa were released in October 2015 since their jail term was covered by the years they had already served in provisional detention.

Mubarak's two sons, along with other defendants, are also accused of making illegal financial gains of over 493 million pounds by allowing a Cyprus company to acquire a national bank's shares through hidden deals.

Cairo Criminal Court decided in September to release Gamal and Alaa on bail of 100,000 pounds.

 

via www.xinhuanet.com

Khashoggi: Qatari Asset in Life; Qatari Asset in Death

SSG (Securitystudies.org, by David Reaboi (Excerpt: Khashoggi: Qatari Asset in life; Qatari Asset in Death)

The narrative focusing on the death of Jamal Khashoggi was to be put into the service of both Qatar and Turkey’s main interest, undermining the stability of its rival, Saudi Arabia. When complete, the successful information operation would depict Khashoggi a heroic martyr to independent journalism and freedom, while Saudi Arabia would be the embodiment of evil and callousness. It is clear now that, not only was Khashoggi transmogrified in death into a major front in Qatar’s war on its Gulf neighbors; in life, he was Qatar’s asset in that war, as well.

The effort to transform Khashoggi from the political operative he was into a journalist and martyr for freedom was an information operation waged largely in the United States. It targeted a diverse audience spanning from “echo chamber” commentators and media figures to politicians, who would then be moved to act based on the new attitude and information the campaign had inserted into the discussion. This operational aspect is of primary importance; as information operations always work to advance policy interests, in order to succeed, these perceptions must affect policymakers and cause them to alter policy.

As the news of Khashoggi’s disappearance and death broke, nearly the entire media was abuzz with praise for the late columnist and engaged in an effort to turn him into a martyr for democratic values, free expression and freedom.

As the Post described him recently, “[Khashoggi was] a writer of modest influence beyond the Middle East when he was alive. In death, he has become a symbol of a broader struggle for human rights.” No outlet did more in the service of cementing that symbolism than the Washington Post and its news and editorial staff. Since October, that outlet has functioned unofficially as the most relentless and influential anti-Saudi lobbying shop in the nation’s capital. Indeed, the successful campaign of hagiography spearheaded by The Post prompted Time Magazineto name Khashoggi and other members of the media “Person of the Year.”

Of course, in order to do this, the media largely ignored salient facts about him that emerged almost immediately: his long history as an apologist and propagandist for the Muslim Brotherhood; his youthful collaboration with Osama Bin Laden and al Qaeda in Afghanistan; his antipathy toward both Israel and Shia Muslims; as well as rumors about his questionable and financial links to Qatari intelligence.

Now, shockingly, the Washington Post itself has largely revealed those rumors to be true. We now know that Jamal Khashoggi was never a journalist—at least, not in the usual sense of the word; he was a highly-partisan operative who worked with a handler to publish propaganda at the behest of the Emirate of Qatar. He was, in other words, an agent of influence.

Rumors have floated inside the Beltway about the contents of Khashoggi’s text messages and, potentially, evidence of wire transfers from Qatar found at his residences in Turkey and in Virginia. The Post’s pre-Christmas release of this information is almost certainly in an effort to get ahead of a story that another outlet is pursuing, and frame some rather explosive revelations in the least damaging way.

In an extensive background portrait of Khashoggi buoyed with accounts from sympathetic friends, reporters Souad Mekhennet and Greg Miller admit that, “text messages between Khashoggi and an executive at Qatar Foundation International show that the executive, Maggie Mitchell Salem, at times shaped the columns he submitted to The Washington Post, proposing topics, drafting material and prodding him to take a harder line against the Saudi government.” The article also glides past crucial context about the relationships Khashoggi cultivated with Islamists and Muslim Brotherhood figures, especially in recent years, and why these connections are important to the work he was doing on behalf of Qatar.

Still, this report is crucial because the campaign to lionize Khashoggi and to destroy the US-Saudi relationship was built on the fiction that the Saudis had killed a mere journalist. Knowing the truth about Khashoggi—not only his anti-Americanism and pro-Islamism (which, for most of the media, is no sin), but his ties to Qatari information operators—would complicate the narrative greatly. The gory murder of a spy in the process of a rendition to his home country isn’t pretty, but it’s a far cry from the image the media wanted to present.

Before anyone else did so, we at the Security Studies Group (SSG) understood the implications of this information operation and aggressively began pushing back on pundits who were attempting to create a false Khashoggi hagiography. In time, some journalists and media figures began to question the defensibility of their position and to withdraw to positions that they found more secure.

Over the course of the next hours and days, SSG generated several research products, including backgrounders, articles and interviews that punctured the narrative by linking Khashoggi to the Muslim Brotherhood and other extremist Islamist groups. We had opened the narrative space in the debate for questioning and thoughtfully assessing Khashoggi’s Islamist background and sympathies. SSG Sr. Fellow Matt Brodsky published the first widely-distributed article about the late columnist’s Brotherhood connections, “Why is the Media Ignoring the Most Glaring Questions about Jamal Khashoggi?” at the Spectator. Using our research, soon other allies felt emboldened enough to publish aggressive push-backs on the unwarranted praise for Khashoggi in the mainstream media.

The inevitable hysterical overreaction from the press made it possible for us to increase not only the visibility of our message, but the credibility that comes from the public’s recognition of blatant media bias. The rancor of the “echo chamber” was best captured byPost, which noticed our campaign and tried to do damage control on October 19 with, “Conservatives mount a whisper campaign smearing Khashoggi in defense of Trump”:

In recent days, a cadre of conservative House Republicans allied with Trump has been privately exchanging articles from right-wing outlets that fuel suspicion of Khashoggi, highlighting his association with the Muslim Brotherhood in his youth and raising conspiratorial questions about his work decades ago as an embedded reporter covering Osama bin Laden…

Our offensive to highlight Khashoggi’s Muslim Brotherhood links and pro-Islamist sympathies was so successful that the Qatar-funded Brookings Institute issued a paper on October 19, “On Jamal Khashoggi, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Saudi Arabia,” to address (and begrudgingly acknowledge) the columnist’s Ikhwan membership and subsequent support for the Islamist movement. Even devoid of context for most readers, The Post’s recent acknowledgement of these connections—to the Brotherhood, as well as to elements of the Qatari network of foundations in Doha and Washington, especially—offers a great deal of vindication for our efforts in the service of accurate analysis.

This didn’t stop many commentators and media voices in the United States from partaking in this influence operation for reasons of their own. But before the partisan American “echo chamber” could engage, though, foreign sources would shape the stream of facts that could be molded into a potent narrative about Khashoggi’s death.

As Brad Patty and Nick Short concluded in their assessment of this information campaign, SSG’s “Firehoses in the Khashoggi Case,” this happened within hours of Khashoggi’s disappearance in Ankara. Turkey took advantage of the silence from Saudi Arabia in the crucial first 36 hours of the controversy to shift the narrative from Khashoggi’s disappearance to leaks of increasingly-brutal and graphic reports of his death at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. Officials from Turkey’s Erdogan government—a longtime regional rival of the Kingdom’s power and influence and, lately, an Islamist nation building a growing alliance with Qatar and Iran—began to distribute weaponized, unverified information to the press. They gave it directly to reporters at prominent American media outlets, especially David Kirkpatrick at the New York Times and a massive team from Khashoggi’s alma mater the Washington Post.

Egyptology And Technology

Forbes, by Julian Vig

Excerpt (read on Egyptology and Technology) 

Patrons sit inside a cafe at al-Rasheed street, the oldest street in central Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. The Om Kalthoum cafe opened in the beginning of the twentieth century in the Iraqi capital. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)ASSOCIATED PRES

When I hear of people going to Egypt “on holiday” I am always surprised to hear of those who spend their entire time in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor or on Memphis Tours through which the tourist is shown an Egypt long ago vanished. While the sphinxes overlooking Luxor and the pyramids of Giza are as much a part of Egypt’s vast history as is Om Kalthoum’s voice or Naguib Mahfouz’ stories, I cannot help but think that recent history would capture the attention of tourists at least as much as the search of the tomb of Queen Nefertiti. Perhaps it is that I have difficulty in focussing uniquely on Egypt’s past over its very rich present as I would much rather pass on the pyramids than on a serving of koshari (street food made of rice, lentils, pasta and chickpeas topped with a spicy dakka sauce and fried onions). After all, what do ancient mummies and hidden tombs have to do with the Egyptian revolution of 2011 or the massive urban and political symbolism Tahrir Square?

December 1999, I produced and directed a film on the end of the millennium—an ethnographic interpretation of time, of Ramadan, and the city of Cairo, appropriately entitled The Last Days of Cairo. While filming I met some of Egypt’s luminaries among which Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s famed if not controversial specialist in Egyptology and the former Minister of Antiquities. Hawass offered me a tour of the pyramids of Giza and entertained me one evening with an honorary shisha (a glass-bottomed water pipe) and sahaleb(a milk, rose water and pistachio drink) as we sat next to Adel Emam Egypt’s preeminent comic actor and listened to stories of Egypt’s ancient past. And what better place to discover Egypt’s history than in one Cairo’s thirty plus thousand qahwas or coffee houses, what Max Rodenbeck describes as “the one Cairo institution is more common that than the mosque.”

What is most fascinating about Egypt is that when you live and work there, the ancient cultures are residually present but still very outside of the present day reality of the streets, the smells, the bustle, and the country’s lively underground music and art scene. The layering of myriad dynasties and various religions over the centuries lends to Egypt’s present—a rich tapestry in which prehistoric, Greek, Roman, Coptic, Byzantine, Nubian, and Arabic elements co-exist. While the 13th century BCE (Before the Common Era) sarcophagus has little to nothing in common with the songs of Om Kalthoum, Egypt’s most important singer from the past century, this is Egypt’s legacy—a country of contradictions where the recent discovery of a 3,000 year-old mummy will like shed absolutely no light upon Egypt’s present-day political or cultural relevance, but which will nonetheless be part and parcel of that territory of Egypt’s past. After all, it is is impossible to anywhere in much of the country—or anywhere from Morocco through to the Persian Gulf for that matter—and not hear Om Kalthoum’s voice on scratchy recordings. Nor can one move through the country without realizing the importance Om Kalthoum had on Egyptian history to include Gamal Abd El-Nasser having supposedly consulted with his friend regarding the Si-Day War of 1967. 

 

 

What binds Egypt’s past to its present was foretold in the 1930s by Egyptian writer, Taha Hussein (also spelled Ḥusayn) who stressed that Egypt had to reform its education system after having attended Cairo’s al-Azhar University in Cairo where his excitement for learning waned by what he regarded as stale lectures resulting in “soul-destroying boredom.” He was kicked out of al-Azhar and eventually finished his education at the newly constructed Egyptian University (today Cairo University) before leaving for his doctoral studies at the Sorbonne. While Hussein rebelled against the monolithic education he found at al-Azhar, he later came to see the problems of western education as well, devoid of any knowledge outside of its own insularity. As a result, in his 1938 book, Mustaqbal ath-Thaqafa fi Misr (The Future of Culture in Egypt), Hussein wrote that there was, in fact, no cultural divide between Europe and Egypt, elaborating the importance of integrating western history, science and philosophy with Arabic thought. Along with Mahfouz, Hussein was one of the early proponents of liberalismin Egypt stating that Egyptian modernity could only be accomplished with a reconciliation of the past with the present and of western with the Middle Eastern traditions. Later as Minister of Education in 1950, he worked to obtain education for every child in Egypt. Today Hussein could be regarded as someone who envisioned the central role that education and science would have in bridging Egypt’s cultural divides still present today. Class, ethnicity, religion, and wealth are still factors plaguing the world’s societies, and Egypt in this way is no different than most other western nations.

via www.forbes.com

Egyptian economy: Sail planning

Long but worth the read. Ahram Weekly, Excerpt (read on Egyptian economy: Sail Planning) 

Egyptian policy-makers are wishing for favourable winds as they press ahead with economic reform efforts in 2019, report Niveen Wahish and Sherine Abdel-Razek

Tens of infrastructure projects are helping the economy grow

Egypt’s economic reform programme is now in its third year, and it was in late 2016 that it all began with floating the pound, imposing new taxes and slashing subsidies. The government’s programme is backed by a three-year $12 billion extended fund facility from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), of which it has received $8 billion. Early last month, the IMF carried out its fourth review and approved the disbursal of another $2 billion scheduled for early 2019.

Over the last two years, Egypt has passed successive IMF checks with a pat on the back. “The Egyptian economy has continued to perform well, despite less favourable global conditions, supported by the authorities’ strong implementation of the reform programme,” an IMF press release said following the fourth review.

Finance Ministry figures show that Egypt’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 5.3 per cent in the first nine months of the 2017-18 fiscal year compared to 3.9 per cent during the 

same period last year. Tourism, exports and natural gas were major contributors to the growth, spurred by public and private consumption at a lower rate than foreign direct investment.

Going forward into 2019, the government’s calculations are optimistic. The Finance Ministry sees the economy growing at 6.5 per cent in the 2019-20 fiscal year. The ministry’s 2019-20 budget guidelines forecast GDP growth at 6.9 per cent in 2020-21 and 7.3 per cent in 2021-22.

Other positive figures were rolled out this year. The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) showed an overall surplus of $12.8 billion in the country’s balance of payments and a retreat in

the current account deficit by 58.6 per cent during the 2017-2018 fiscal year. This was made possible due to improved tourism revenues, which rose to $7.4 billion from $1.6 billion.

Suez Canal receipts increased by 15.4 per cent, to register $5.7 billion against $4.9 billion last year. Remittances from abroad reached $26.5 billion, an increase of $4.6 billion over last year. These contributed to propping up the country’s hard currency reserves, which reached $44.5 billion at the end of November 2018, covering 8.5 months of imports. They had reached a low of $13.4 billion at the end of March 2013, covering only 3.5 months of imports.

The unemployment rate also fell to 9.9 per cent in the second quarter of 2018, compared to 12 per cent a year ago. The number of employed reached 23 million during the same period, compared to 25.7 million a year ago. 

This generally positive performance has triggered improved credit ratings for the Egyptian economy. In November, ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) affirmed Egypt’s sovereign credit rating at B and its outlook at stable on the back of a “more competitive exchange rate, improving macro fundamentals and rising domestic gas production.” 

It had upgraded its rating for Egypt from B- to B in May. S&P said it might raise the rating to positive if the country’s economic growth exceeded its expectations or if it reduced its financing needs or government debt.

In August credit ratings agency Fitch affirmed Egypt’s long-term credit rating at B with a positive outlook. Ratings agency Moody’s upgraded its outlook on Egypt to positive, reaffirming its long-term issuer rating at B3. It also upgraded its outlook to positive from stable on the back of what it said were improvements in the economic and business environment in the country. 

source: Capital Economics

INFRASTRUCTURE FOR GROWTH: Major infrastructure projects continued in 2018 in different parts of the country, propelling growth and creating jobs. 

The government continued work on expanding and upgrading the road network, power stations and urban developments. Among them were the development projects in Galala located between Ain Al-Sokhna and Zaafarana on the Red Sea. These aim to create a new urban area including residential, commercial, educational and tourism facilities.

The latest of these projects were inaugurated in mid-December by President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi. They included a wastewater treatment plant in Qalioubiya and several housing projects aimed at combating informal settlements.

More than 150,000 direct and indirect job opportunities in different fields are said to have been created by the projects. And more than 100 Egyptian companies and 10 engineering consultancy offices are involved. The area also includes a marble factory and the King Abdullah bin Abdel-Aziz University, a new university development. 

This year also saw the inauguration of four power generation projects worth some $7.2 billion. They include three electricity plants built by German conglomerate Siemens in Beni Sweif, Borollos and the New Administrative Capital, with a total capacity of 14.4 Gigawatts (GW).

In a bid to increase the country’s renewable sources of energy, a wind power plant at Gabal Al-Zeit on the Red Sea consisting of three interlinked projects producing 580 Megawatts (ME) of power from 390 wind turbines was also inaugurated this year. Egypt has targeted 20 per cent of all electricity consumption to be generated from renewable sources by 2022. 

The new plants will boost power production by 50 per cent and have a combined capacity eight times that of the Aswan High Dam, Presidential Spokesman Bassam Radi said.

“The projects will transform Egypt into a regional power hub and allow us to export electricity to neighbouring countries,” he added. Excess electricity generated by the plants will help supply planned interconnection projects with Sudan, Cyprus, Greece and Saudi Arabia, added Electricity Ministry Spokesman Ayman Hamza.

The first phase of the new Alamein City on the North Coast was also inaugurated this year. It will eventually cover 48,000 feddans and cost LE2 billion and is part of a series of ambitious urban development projects that will accommodate Egypt’s growing population while offering job opportunities and acting as engines of economic growth.

“The construction of these fourth-generation cities is not a luxury. They have become an urgent need, both in tackling population growth and in upping Egypt’s profile on the global investment map,” President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi said at the inauguration. Other cities being developed include the New Rafah City in Sinai, built on 535 feddans and containing 10,000 housing units, and Salam City, to be constructed on 16,415 feddans east of Port Said. 

“Alamein City and other similar projects have already successfully absorbed workers returning from Libya and other countries,” the president said.

 

Egypt approves more than 80 Protestant churches

Evangelical Focus

According to the government, 508 Coptic, Orthodox, Protestant, and Catholic churches have received its approval since February. At the same time, eleven churches were shut down.

The Egyptian government has legalised 168 new legal church buildings in the country.

The requests of Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox, Protestant, and Roman Catholic churches, to formally register facilities long functioning as centres of worship, were approved on November 30 by a cabinet committee.

A total of 3,730 requests were submitted for approval, pending review of structural soundness and compliance with local regulations.

Last February, the first 53 church buildings were approved, and, according to the government, a total of 508 have received its approval since then.  

MORE THAN 80 PROTESTANT CHURCHES APPROVED

Egypt’s Protestants have requested the license of 1,070 church buildings. Forty-two were approved in this most recent batch, bringing their total to more than 80.

Prior to the new law passed in August 2016, it was very difficult for churches to be recognised by the government. Local authorities could delay or deny paperwork for licenses, often on security grounds, to placate objections by neighbourhood Muslims.

The law was controversial, but it was designed to streamline the process, allow for judicial review, and transfer final approval from Egypt’s president to local governors.  

CABINET COMMITTEE TO REVIEW CHURCHES The law also established a cabinet committee formed by the Prime Minister and the Ministers of justice, housing, antiquities, and others, to review church requests to license existing church facilities.

Andrea Zaki, President of the Protestant Churches of Egypt, said he was “pleased”, because “the process has been slow in the beginning, but I think going forward it will be better”.

“The government is gaining steam and taking seriously its obligations under the law. Churches also are becoming more familiar with the required procedures”, Zaki told Christianity Today.

  “SOMETIMES LOCAL OFFICIALS COMPLICATE THE PROCESS”

However, Ishak Ibrahim, religion officer with the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), argued that “if the easy cases have taken this long, what happens when they consider the difficult ones”.

According to Ibrahim, the process is slow because “sometimes local officials complicate the paperwork and other times, the government yields to the security situation if local Muslim neighbours object”.  

ELEVEN CHURCHES SHUT DOWN

Although the 2016 law prohibits closure of a church where worship was previously conducted, the EIPR released a report stating that since the cabinet committee began its work, there have been 15 churches under review.

Eleven churches were subsequently shut down; only two had the issues solved.

Additionally, the government has prosecuted attacks on Copts; last month, a court gave the death penalty to an alleged ISIS supporter who murdered a Coptic doctor.  

“CHURCH APPROVALS ARE GOOD SIGNS” “These sentences show the government is serious in applying citizenship. Too often in the past, no one would be held accountable”, said Zaki.

The President of the Protestant Churches of Egypt recognised that “there are certain problems in certain villages in Upper Egypt, and radicals exploit them to create more difficulties”. “We need to deal with them wisely, but the court verdicts and the church approvals are good signs”.

See more: http://evangelicalfocus.com/world/4097/Egypt_approves_more_than_80_Protestant_churches#

via evangelicalfocus.com

Japanese education for Egyptian kids?

The Japanese Times BY KUNI MIYAKE (Excerpt: read on Japanese education for Egyptian kids?)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi shake hands in Tokyo before starting a meeting on Feb. 29, 2016. The leaders announced their joint partnership on education during el-Sissi's visit. | KYODO

But to tell the truth, the city I really wanted to visit this time was Cairo because it was the first foreign city I visited as a diplomat. I came to Egypt in 1979 for my linguistic training, but it was almost torture for me to study Arabic in English at the American University in Cairo as neither was my native language.

I had a chance to walk around the center of downtown Cairo as I did 40 years ago, taking in the noise on the streets, drivers’ greetings by honking, and the scent of the city. As I expected, Cairo hadn’t changed a bit, even after the 2011 revolution and 2013 counter-revolution. Egypt has been and will be the eternal gift of the Nile River.

Why hasn’t Egypt changed much, even though many younger Egyptians have since 2011 dreamed of a freer, more democratic and more prosperous Egypt? Why hasn’t the economy of now-democratic Tunisia not grown, like Japan’s, the way they wanted? The latter question was one that I was asked by a university student in Tunis.

My answer was cruel. I said, “To make your capitalism succeed, your people need to be able to do the same things at the same time in the same manner with the same quality. That’s what Japan, South Korea and Taiwan did with their education. That is the only way in capitalism to concentrate capital and labor for growth.”

The student was silent probably because Tunisian education system is so different from that of Japan. I regretted my answer since I was afraid such an idea may not be accepted in the Arab world. I was pleased, however, to find this wasn’t true when I arrived in Cairo and learned that the Egyptians are trying to change their education system.

When Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi visited Japan in 2016, I was told, he insisted that Egypt and Japan should work closely together on educational partnerships by implementing the Egypt Japan Education Partnership (EJEP) in which Egypt introduces Japanese-style educational concepts into its education system.

In Egypt, EJEP encompasses not only early childhood and basic education, but also technical and higher education. In this ambitious program, the Egyptian elementary and secondary school kids are taught under the Japanese concept of “whole child development,” also known as “tokkatsu,” or “special activities” in Japan.

Can you imagine kids in Cairo study at a Japanese-style school to develop academic, social, emotional as well as physical skills by encouraging team work or creative thinking, or by unique Japanese practices such as cleaning the classrooms together or assigning students to be class leader for the day?

Each nation has its own educational philosophy. Japan seems to focus on social harmony while ensuring that each member’s individual values are duly protected. In this regard, the implementation of EJEP does not mean that el-Sissi is interested in introducing military-style discipline in Egyptian education.

An Egyptian visitor to Tokyo once said that the “Japanese are a walking Quran.” One time he saw an elderly Japanese lady waiting to cross a road at midnight. She had stopped at the crosswalk because the crosswalk light was red, even though there was no traffic, and nobody was watching her. El-Sissi might have heard this story somewhere.

Rome was not built in a day, and we should not expect that the Egyptian kids will soon start behaving like their Japanese counterparts. However, if some of them start cleaning public places together or doing community services in their neighborhoods, that could trigger a revolution in the social behavior of Egyptian youth.

There is another story about education and Arabs. A rich, young Arab student in a gulf state decided to study in the United States and went to the U.S. embassy. When the consul asked him to submit application forms, he told the consul, “Why should I do it? Isn’t that what you are here for?”

This was not a joke. It was a true story. The Arab student may never learn anything important in life because nobody learns anything unless he or she is willing to learn from others. Proper education, however, may change the way people live their lives. Egypt and other Arab countries are no exception.

Japanese-style education for Egyptian kids just started. Recognizing the program’s importance and its responsibility, the Japanese government — especially the Japan International Cooperation Agency — has been doing its best to make this ambitious joint project successful. May Allah bless the Egyptian children!

Kuni Miyake is president of the Foreign Policy Institute and research director at Canon Institute for Global Studies.

Screening reveals 732, 732 hepatitis C patients in Egypt

Egypt Today, by Noha El Tawil

FILE - Minister of Health and Population Hala Zayed

CAIRO - 15 December 2018: On the sidelines of the inauguration of housing projects and water plants on Saturday by President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, Minister of Health and Population Hala Zayed displayed the results of screening for hepatitis C and chronic diseases.

The minister added that citizens aged between 26 and 35 compose 60 percent of citizens who did the check-ups. The total number of citizens screened is 17,537, 323 with women composing the bigger portion of the turnout. The total number of citizens diagnosed with hepatitis C is 732, 732 and they started to receive treatment.

“Hepatitis C can spread from one patient to four or five people in his sphere. The direct cost per patient is LE50,000 and the same for the one who gets the contagion,” the minister highlighted adding that the direct cost is $700 million and can reach $3.5 billion.

Zayed stated that only 50 percent of citizens have health insurance.The minister added that local manufacturers have been supplying necessary equipment to the ministry which has reduced the cost.

The minister said that 84 percent of deaths are caused by chronic diseases. “When the household’s breadwinner gets ill, the children drop out of education. The productivity of the patient decreases,” Zayed explained.

The results of screening for chronic diseases identified 5,3 million diabetes patients, and 3.6 million hypertension patients. It is estimated that 21 percent of the population suffer from hypertension.

Moreover, the screening revealed that 877,000 citizens are at risk of becoming diabetes patients. Only 25 percent of screened citizens have normal weight as 36 percent are overweight, while 39 percent are obese summing up to 6.8 million.

The number of citizens screened in the first phase is 12.4 million, and in the second phase, the number is 5.1 million. The screening teams went to industrial complexes, public and private schools among others. Citizens can resort to call centers and social media to know the nearest screening points.

“In each phase, we ensure than there is fair geographic distribution among border, urban, and rural governorates,” the minister said.

The second phase that kicked off recently consists of 11 governorates including Red Sea, Sohag, Aswan, Cairo, South Sinai. In parallel, the third phase will kick off in January covering seven governorates to end in April. In each phase, there are permanent and mobile screening units distributed over 2,000 locations.

The minister said that the screening helped citizens to understand some basics regarding their health. “Some citizens got to understand the concept of ratio between height and weight,” Zayed clarified.

Zayed praised health workers involved in the screening campaign saying that “most of the campaign members are young and refuse to take holidays.” The screening teams include a physician or pharmacist, a nurse, and an employee that enters data. “Health workers affiliated with the WHO observe, follow-up with patents, and check results and data,” the minister stated.

Zayed stated that the average number of days a patient on a list waits for before receiving treatment dropped to 18 from 40. Most of those patients suffer from cardiovascular diseases caused by diabetes, hypertension, and obesity, she clarified.

 

via www.egypttoday.com

الوقود البديل.. قادم لا محال

د. عزة رضوان صدقى

الاهرام اليومي

 

عند قلى بعض الأطعمة مثل الطعمية أو البطاطس أو حتى حلقات الباذنجان يبقى بعدها هذا الزيت المشمئز لونا وشكلا ورائ فكيف يتم التخلص منه؟ البعض يضع الزيت فى حاوية مغلقة ويضيفه إلى باقى القمامة. أما البعض الآخر، كما هو الحال فى مصر، فغالبا ما يلقون به والدهون عامة فى صرف الحوض مع عدم المبالاة من التداعيات المترتبة على ذلك. بالإضافة إلى خطورة سكب الزيت بهذا الأسلوب على البيئة فهو يعتبر تبذيرا لمصدر وفير من مادة يمكن استخدامها لخلق وقود صديق للبيئة يسمى بيو ديزل ومعروف بالوقود البديل ويعتبر مفيدا من نواحٍ عديدة. تتحول الزيوت والدهون المسكوبة مع الوقت فى مجرى مياه الصرف إلى أحجار صلبة عملاقة تتماسك مع الفضلات الأخرى مثل البلاستيك والورق والحفاظات والنفايات التى تكوِّن دعما هيكليا للزيوت ثم تغلق تدفق المياه فى الصرف الصحي.

فى العالم الغربى يسمى هذا الصلب الفاتبرجز أى الجبال الدهنية لكونها عملاقة الحجم وشديدة الصلابة وتلك الجبال الدهنية فى المدن مثل مانيلا ونيويورك وملبورن ودنفر ومدن أخرى تسبب انسدادات تؤدى بفيضانات غامرة بالقاذورات ومكتظة بالملوثات وتقتل مئات الحيوانات البحرية وتتسرب منها رائحة كريهة. مثلا معدل الانسداد من الجبال الدهنية فى مصارف بريطانيا يعد بالآلاف سنويا. نحو مليون جنيه استرلينى تصرف شهريا لاستخراج هذه الدهون من منطقة واحدة فى بريطانيا تسمى وايتشابل.

مدن العالم أدركت خطر الانسداد الذى يسببه الدهن والزيوت والآن يحاولون عن طريق حملات توعية مكثفة تثقيف المواطنين عن مخاطر زيوت ودهون القلى وإرشادهم إلى إزاحة الدهون من الأوانى قبل غسلها وإجبار مطاعم الوجبات السريعة على استعمال مصائد لحجز الزيوت قبل اختفائها مع الصرف كما توضع مصائد للزيوت والدهون قبل وصولها لمصب المياه، كذلك معظم البلاد الاوروبية قد أدركت فوائد استخلاص الوقود البديل (البيو ديزل) فدعنا نتعرف عليه.

يستخلص الديزل من البترول بينما يستخلص البيو ديزل من الزيوت النباتية والدهون، والمكسب مضاعف لاستعمال الزيوت التى استعملت للطهى حيث إن أولا: البيو ديزل لا يلوِّث أو يضر بالبيئة، وثانيا: لأن سكب زيت الطهى فى الصرف يعرِّض الجميع لخطر جم. البيو ديزل له منافع عديدة أولها أنه آمن ولا يوجد به إلا قليل جدا من ثانى أكسيد الكربون المسبِّب للاحتباس الحرارى إذ ينبعث منه 80% أقل مما ينبعث من الديزل فهو بالطبع مفيد للبيئة. صنع البيو ديزل من زيوت الطهى ليس بشيء معقد ولكنه مكلِّف للوقت والمجهود فى تجميع الزيوت المستعملة من المطاعم وسلاسل الطعام والموردين التجاريين، ولكنها وسيلة لاسترداد بعض ما ينفقه التاجر إذا ما ثمّن هذا الزيت بثمن ما وأدرك الجميع خطورته. أما إذا ما انتشر التجميع من المنازل فذلك سوف يعزِّز ويوسِّع الإنتاج.

والبلاد الأوروبية تشجع إنتاج البيو ديزل، فبعضها يبيع البيو ديزل فى محطات الوقود جنبا إلى جنب مع الديزل أو مخلّط مع الديزل بنسبة 20 فى المائة. يوجد فى بلجيكا وهولندا وكثير من الدول الأوروبية الوقود البديل فى المحطات منذ 2006. أما النرويج فقررت أن يحتوى وقود الطيران على نصف فى المائة من البيو ديزل بدءًا من 2020، ومن المرجح أن يتضاعف إنتاج البيو ديزل فى بريطانيا من 700 مليون لتر فى السنين القادمة.

بينما نحن فى مصر ليس لدينا تقدير عام عن حجم الانسداد فى مصارفنا, من البديهى أن يكون مماثلا لمناطق أخرى فى العالم إن لم يكن أعلى من حب المصريين للقلى والأكلات المدهنة والأكلات السريعة الحديثة، والأهم لعدم إدراكنا خطورة هذا الأسلوب فى التعامل مع الزيوت والدهون. معظم الأسر المصرية تستخدم نحو 3 لترات زيت شهريا، وهذا أعلى من المتوسط العالمى بكثير. وبالطبع فإن مجمل هذه الزيوت والدهون يصبُّ فى مصارفنا ثم بالتبعية فى نهر النيل.

أما الآن فهناك بعض الشركات التى بدأت تجميع زيوت الطهى من مصدرها. إن أول الغيث قطرة أما إذا بدأت الأسر المصرية فى تقبل فكرة إعادة تدوير زيوت الطهى فالفوائد عدة. أولا لن يعاد استعمال الزيوت أكثر من مرات محدودة حيث إن إعادة غلى الزيوت يخلق مادة الترانسفات التى تصبح ضارة إذا زادت نسبتها فهى ترفع من معدل الكوليسترول فى الدم وتؤدى إلى تصلب الشرايين.

فى كثير من البلاد الغربية تحدد نسبة وجود الترانسفات فى المواد الدهنية لخطورتها. وثانيا تبقى مصارفنا، ومجارينا خالية من هذا التلوث البيئي. وثالثا سوف نستفيد من البيو ديزل الذى سينتج من زيوت الطهي. آن الأوان أن ندرك مخاطر الزيوت والدهون على مصارفنا والأهم أن تسعى مصر إلى التوسع فى إنتاج وتصنيع البيو ديزل ثم إضافته إلى المنتجات البترولية.

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