Day: September 3, 2022

Awqaf Minister Mohamed Mokhtar Gomaa said President Abdel Fattah El Sisi significantly supports moderate thoughts and is keen to raise public awareness about religious and patriotic issues.

In an interview with MENA Editor-In-Chief and Board Chairman Ali Hassan, the minister reiterated that Sisi adopts policies on religious tolerance with deep keenness on spreading peace culture worldwide.

The minister extended thanks to president Sisi over his auspices of the 33rd international conference “ijtihad is necessity to age”, which will be organized by the ministry on September 24-25 with the participation of more than 100 scholars from over 60 countries to focus on the issue of ijtihad (independent judgment or opinion).

Gomaa pointed out that the conference will be a very important event with the participation of a host of scholars from Arab and Islamic countries to shed light on several religious issues.

Gomaa said the ministry currently aims to provide 100,000 families with monthly aid through launching different social protection initiatives and services in cooperation with the Social Solidarity Ministry for the neediest categories.

He pointed out that mosques have restored their important roles under the new republic through organizing the current activities of memorizing the Holy Quran for children in more than 7,000 mosques nationwide.

The Ministry of Awqaf exerts great efforts through launching cultural weeks to enhance its educational roles.

Under Sisi’s directives, the ministry also works on exerting social efforts to help the needy families through launching Adahi Sukuk and Feeding Sukuk initiatives to ensure that food is offered to the poor all year round nationwide.

More than 6.6 million families have benefited from Adahi Sukuk so far, as the needy families got many tons of Adahi meat, the minister stressed.

Gomaa said the Awqaf Ministry has positively responded to the directives of president Sisi to maximize its returns, making its highest rates of yearly yields in the Fiscal Year 2021/2022 with some EGP2.015 billion.

The ministry also exerts great efforts to train imams, scholars and female preachers and spread wise moderate thoughts in several countries worldwide, he added.

The Awqaf Ministry also provided training courses and initiatives for many imams and female preachers, in addition to awarding ICDL certificates for 1,013 trainees, Gomaa said.

The ministry also launched joint training courses through inking 24 protocols of cooperation with several universities, including Al Azhar University to train 4,100 imams and female preachers, according to him.

Gomaa stressed that the ministry worked on improving financial conditions for imams under president Sisi’s directives, as the imams’ salaries have increased.

He asserted that the ministry exerts great efforts to counter extremism and terrorism through preventing extremist and unqualified imams from delivering sermons and speeches in mosques.

The minister also shed light on fruitful cooperation with the Ministry of Culture through making different translation and cultural works.

He underlined the importance of the summer program carried out nationwide for children to educate and help them understand moderate Islam.

He added that the Awqaf Ministry is cooperating with its counterparts in the Arab and Islamic world, as it held 10 international conferences during the period from 2014 to 2022, in addition to organizing seven competitions on memorizing the Holy Quran during the period from 2015 to 2021.

Gomaa said the ministry made great efforts on renovating and opening new mosques nationwide at a cost of more than EGP4.130 billion.

The minister underscored the important the role played by female preachers to raise and spread religious awareness among Egyptian families.

He stressed that the ministry played a key role to contribute to carrying out development plans under the Presidential “Decent Life” initiative.

The ministry will also focus on environmental issues at the 33rd International Conference since Egypt is set to host the United Nations Climate Conference (COP27) in November in the Egyptian coastal city of Sharm El Sheikh, Gomaa added.

Source: State Information Service Egypt

Minister of Public Enterprise Sector Mahmoud Esmat stressed that moving to the New Administrative Capital represents a quantum leap at the administrative and technical levels.

This will contribute to developing performance of the state administrative body and improving the services offered to people within the framework of the “new republic” launched by the New Administrative Capital, he said.

Esmat made the remarks on Saturday 03/09/2022 while inspecting the ministry’s HQ in the new capital and standing on the employees’ preparedness to move to the new capital. 

Source: State Information Service Egypt

The Ministry of Planning and Economic Development said the supply and internal trade sector is planning to finalize a decoding and laser stamping project during the 2022-2023 fiscal year to cope with the development realized in this industry and improve the services offered to people.

This also helps in expanding logistics zones in various governorates to incentivize investments in the domestic trade sector.

This came in a report issued by the ministry on the targets of the supply and domestic trade in the current fiscal year 2022-2023.

Planning and Economic Development Minister Hala el Saeed said this sector is vital as it is responsible for food security, safeguarding the strategic stock of staple commodities and ensuring regular supply of commodities in markets via supply chains.

Under the 2022-2023 plan, the ministry of planning seeks to finalize the development of supply offices to achieve the aspired goals.

She noted that a three-year plan at EGP 995 million was laid down to develop 11 supply directorates, 287 supply administrations and 183 supply offices nationwide.

The storage capacity of wheat silos was to be expanded from 1.2 million tons in 2014 to 3.4 million tons in 2021, the report said, referring to plans to expand silos storage to about 3.6 million tons by the end of 2022.

The report added that the volume of imported wheat stood at 5.5 million tons, with total beneficiaries of supply commodities reaching 64 million.

About 81,000 ration cards were issued for the first time to most needy people, raising the total number of households possessing ration cards to 480,500, it said.

The number of beneficiaries of subsidized bread raised to 72 million, it added.

Source: State Information Service Egypt

Minister of Environment Yassmine Fouad said the State’s approach to improving nature reserves was primarily based on changing misconceptions about nature protectorates from a no-go area to a venue for enjoyable eco-friendly activities.

Fouad made the remarks on Saturday 03/09/2022 while participating in a marathon in Wadi Degla, a natural protected area located in Cairo’s Zahraa Maadi district, which was organized by Wadi Ibex, the first and most influential trail running team in Egypt.

The marathon was held as part of a project adopted by the Ministry of Environment to integrate biodiversity into eco-tourism programs through ECO Egypt campaign, launched in March 2019 as part of the ‘LiveGreen’ campaign which is executed under the auspices of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi.

This marathon has been organized as part of the ministry’s efforts to encourage citizens and civil society to be engaged in environmental action, the minister said.

She noted that her ministry has decided to start with Cairo’s nature reserves due to their proximity to populated areas.

Financed by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) with the goal of prompting natural rediscovery and boosting the importance of ecological conservation, ECO EGYPT encourages sustainable, responsible tourism for travelers seeking unique, out-of-the-box experiences.

Source: State Information Service Egypt

The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said Saturday 03/09/2022 no room would be allowed for violating a a clear and precise system that has been developed to render the COP27 successful.

This came during a meeting held by the Deputy Minister for Tourism Affairs Ghada Shalaby with representatives of companies that will launch tourism programs for COP 27’s delegations.

The companies will be subject to close monitoring and follow-up campaigns to achieve the best performance in a manner befitting the reputation of the Egyptian tourist destination, Shalaby said.

The companies have been chosen under precise criteria set by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in coordination with Egypt’s travel agencies chamber, where three companies were selected from the top 30 tour operators.

Source: State Information Service Egypt

Egypt’s maritime forces and their US counterparts carried out trans-sea drills with the participation of the Gamal Abdel Nasser helicopter carrier, the Galala frigate as well as the US destroyer USS Delbert D.Black.

This falls within the framework of the Armed Forces General Command plan for improving training levels and exchanging expertise with Armed Forces of sisterly and friendly countries.

The drills focused on maritime operations and means of working with joint forces in maritime peacekeeping operations in the face of threats to international trade and navigation.

This is the second exercise of its kind to be implemented with the US in a brief period, thus contributing to enhancing military cooperation between the Egyptian and US armed forces.

Source: State Information Service Egypt

Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait said Saturday 03/09/2022 that providing the basic needs of citizens represents a “presidential priority” despite all serious global challenges that severely pressure the state’s general budget.

“Just as Egypt passed the coronavirus crisis with no shortage of goods, we will also overcome the negative impact of the Ukrainian crisis,” he added during an open dialogue with university students, civil society representatives and lawmakers, held in Fayyoum to celebrate the success of Egypt’s participatory budgeting experiment.

The state, with its wise political leadership, is proceeding ahead on its development path, despite all the challenges faced by the world’s largest economies, the minister said.

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi is closely following up the government’s efforts to deal with the repercussions of global crises, and the resulting massive inflationary wave to reduce the burden on citizens as much as possible, he added.

Development projects will never be postponed, including the Haya Karima “Decent Life” presidential initiative, which is the largest funded, most influential and comprehensive project launched in this regard, Maait said.

The minister stressed the keenness to adopt societal dialogues on the budget to determine public spending priorities.

In FY 2021-22 the highest growth rate since 2008 was recorded by Egypt at 6.6% of GDP, compared to a global average of 3.2% for emerging economies, the minister said.

The budget deficit decreased from 13% in the 2012/13 fiscal year to 6.1% of GDP in the last fiscal year, thus making it below the average of emerging countries for the first time in years, he added.

Source: State Information Service Egypt