Egypt Roundup: Eid Al-Fitr celebrations, illegal smuggling of white sand, healthcare
Collaborative efforts to establish ceasefire
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi engaged in talks with Director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) William Burns and Director of Egyptian General Intelligence Service (GIS) Abbas Kamel over collaborative efforts to establish a ceasefire in Gaza. According to Dailynews Egypt, the talks also focused on the assessment of recent happenings amidst a dialogue on how to restore peace and cease military actions. This comes in the face of a severe humanitarian crisis and famine facing Gaza after tensions with Israel.
Health care improvement
Prime Minister of Egypt Moustafa Madbouli joined Health and Population Minister Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar and Planning and Economic Development Minister Hala El Saeed for the signing of a protocol to enhance government healthcare in the country. The signing ceremony was held at the government headquarters in the New Administrative Capital east of Cairo on April 8. The protocol outlines the areas of cooperation between the three parties. It will include joint support for human development processes for workers in healthcare institutions and sectors, according to the Egyptian Gazette.
Eid Al-Fitr celebrations
President of Egypt Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has extended warm congratulations to Muslims of Egypt abroad on the occasion of the Eid Al-Fitr. “My brothers and sons, Muslims of Egypt abroad, it brings me great pleasure to extend to you my heartfelt congratulations on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr, praying to Allah Almighty to make it a happy and blessed Eid, and to repeat it for you with goodness, blessings, and prosperity,” he was quoted by Egypt Today. This comes after the month-long dawn-to-sunset fasting of Ramadan for Muslims across the world. Egypt will have a paid holiday from April 9-14 to celebrate the occasion.
Illegal smuggling of white sand
Authorities at the Egyptian customs at the Dekheila Port in Alexandria stopped attempts to illegally smuggle out white sand on the blindside of the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources. A customs committee was formed to inspect the content of a customs declaration of a company exported to Slovenia during the completion of customs procedures on exported goods in the Inspection and Committee. There were four containers containing 80 jumbo plastic drums of yellow sands weighing 110 tons but 24 other jumbo plastic drums with white sand were discovered hidden among the distributed items and placed under the yellow sand, Egypt Independent revealed.
Egyptian education institutions improve international classifications
The higher education and scientific research system in Egypt has received massive support over the past 10 years which has resulted in an increased level of competitiveness of local education institutions. According to the Egyptian Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Dr. Ayman Ashour this has also led to high competition in the prominent appearance of these institutions in international classifications and improved their ranks. 69 universities and research centers were included in the Semago World Classification, and the results of the classification indicated that 32 Egyptian universities and educational institutions appeared among the Q1 institutions, which is, within the top 25% of the classification, Egypt Today reports.
