CAIRO – 27 November 2022: Spokesperson of the Egyptian Armed Forces Gharib Abdel Hafez announced that a fighter jet crashed during training on Sunday because of a technical error, and that the pilot and co-pilot survived. The cause of the crashes was also technical problems that were not detailed, and they all happened during training. Egypt signed a contract with the French Dassault Aviation company to purchase 30 Rafale fighter jets, announced the Egyptian Armed Forces in a statement in May 2021. The 24 Rafale aircrafts were part of a deal valued at 5.3 billion euros ($5.9 billion). Reuters reported that the new deal is worth 3.75 billion euro ($4.5 billion).

Ahmed Abu Zeid — Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs — said on Saturday that Egypt has achieved an unprecedented leap in the protection and promotion of women’s rights. The day coincides with the ‘Unite to End Violence Against Women (UNITE)’ campaign — a 16-day initiative that runs from 25 November to 10 December, which is Human Rights Day. The UN says that an increase in violence against women is observed due to intersecting crises, climate change, global conflicts, economic instability. According to the UN, 45% of women reported that they or other women they know have been exposed to some form of violence. Additionally, violence against women continues to be a barrier to achieving equality, development, and peace, as well as the fulfilment of the human rights of women and girls.

November 2022: “On the occasion of the International Day for elimination of Violence against Women, Egypt made an unprecedented leap to promote women's rights emanating from a political will, and a genuine belief that protecting & empowering women is a national cause & an authentic human right,” said Egyptian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Ahmed Abou Zeid in a tweet. On the occasion of the #International_Day_for_elimination_of_Violence_against_Women.Egypt made an unprecedented leap to promote women's rights emanating from a political will, and a genuine belief that protecting & empowering women is a national cause & an authentic human right. pic.twitter.com/NB4jC00X3r — Egypt MFA Spokesperson (@MfaEgypt) November 26, 2022Egypt was the first country worldwide that issued a policy paper on preserving women’s rights during the coronavirus pandemic, says head of the National Council of Women (NCW) Maya Morsy on 8 April 2021. Coronavirus pandemic could eradicate all efforts exerted in achieving gender equality, said Morsy in her speech at a human rights conference titled “Building a Post-Pandemic World...A Comprehensive Approach to Human Rights” and organized by the Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies (ECSS). Egypt was one of the first countries that provided financial and psychological support in the health system during the coronavirus pandemic, says of WHO Representative in Egypt Naeema Al-Gasseer.

CIB diligently works on cementing its leading position in the market, making it the preferred partner for SMEs. Companies can also benefit from CIB’s payment acceptance solutions, corporate payment services, payroll services and CIB Business Online. The CIB Business Banking segment has launched three new hubs in the Bank’s branches to serve credit customers from small and medium-sized companies. With that in mind, CIB launched its SME Academy program to train competent calibres that can support the Bank’s SME goals and help achieve sustainable development. CIB was named Best Bank for SME Banking in Egypt and the Middle East in Euromoney’s Awards for Excellence 2022.

Sharm El-Sheikh – Egypt has pushed strongly for expanding renewable energy production to reduce greenhouse gases, improve air quality, and enhance opportunities for a gradual transition towards reliance on sustainable energy. Paddy Padmanathan, Vice Chairperson and CEO of ACWA Power, expects the group to inject up to $10bn worth of investments in Egypt by 2026. He stressed the company’s desire to push forward the cooperation processes with the energy sector in Egypt to promote the transition towards sustainable and clean energy and reduce emissions. It will also produce about 650 tonnes of green hydrogen per day and 1.2 million tonnes of green ammonia annually, with investments exceeding $6bn. He added that all of these projects have created a strong experience that qualifies it to develop many projects in this sector, especially the green hydrogen sector in Egypt.

The Egypt Education Platform (EEP) owned by EFG Hermes and Egypt’s Sovereign Fund signed a new management agreement for the development of a new international school in the coastal city of Somabay, which is located on the Red Sea. Sources told Daily news Egypt the new school will be owned by Abo Soma Development and will be able to host 300 students when fully operational, adding that the new school is targeted to start operations in September 2024. Furthermore, the platform is currently close to finalising a new investment in the education content development space, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter (4Q) of 2022. The EEP also started the new academic year across eight operating schools, with all schools exceeding their targeted enrolment numbers for the 2022/23 academic year. Moreover, the platform is exploring potential growth opportunities in the market through future acquisitions or development of new schools.

CAIRO - 26 November 2022: The Egyptian Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy is witnessing an unprecedented move towards the crisis of loss in the national electricity grid, which causes huge financial losses incurred by the ministry and its subsidiaries. The Ministry of Electricity worked out a tight plan in cooperation with the Electricity Police to eliminate this crisis by increasing the penalty imposed on power thefts. Dr. Mohamed Shaker, Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy, revealed that the ministry is currently studying to increase the penalty for electric current thefts as part of its plan to reduce loss rates in the national grid as a result of the huge financial losses that the sector is exposed to. Shaker added that converting the national electricity network into a smart network is the radical solution to eliminate the loss rates in the national network, pointing out that the expansion of the installation of prepaid meters and smart meters and the installation of smart transformers will be the solution to ending Electricity theft crisis in Egypt. Shaker stressed that the next few days will witness intensive campaigns to control violators and electricity thieves throughout the Republic.

CAIRO – 26 November 2022: Egypt’s Minister of Health Khaled Abdel Ghaffar has stressed the need to reduce the total amount of antimicrobials used in the agricultural food system by 39-59 percent from the current level by 2030. During his participation, Abdel Ghaffar stressed Egypt’s support to the efforts aiming at combating antimicrobials in a way that comes in line with the “One Health” strategy. Despite the fact that antimicrobial, including antibiotics, have protected human beings against harmful microorganisms for decades, misuse and overuse of antimicrobials have caused drug-resistant pathogens to develop. The minister also affirmed the Egyptian state's support for Saudi Arabia’s request to host the fourth ministerial conference on antimicrobial resistance in Riyadh next year. According to Omani reports, the manifesto has stressed on the three global targets regarding antimicrobials, including the need to reduce the antimicrobials used in agricultural food systems by 30-50 percent by 2030.

Lieutenant-General Mohamed Zaki — Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and Minister of Defence and Military Production — and his Greek counterpart Nikolaos Panayiotopoulos signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in the field of air and sea search and rescue between the Egyptian and Greek sides. The signing ceremony was held on Wednesday in the presence of Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry and his Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias. The MoU comes as part of the partnership and cooperation between the two governments and stipulates providing all aspects of support between the two sides in order to achieve integration in the field of air and sea search and rescue. Zaki expressed his pride in the partnership relations between the Egyptian and Greek Armed Forces in various military fields. He also stressed the keenness of the general command of the Armed Forces to increase cooperation in various military fields.

CAIRO – 25 November 2022: The Egyptian Parliament expressed its complete rejection to the European Parliament decision issued on 11/24/2022 regarding the human rights situation in Egypt. The parliament explained that “despite most of the European Parliament report was not credible or impartial, and does not require any kind of attention”, some things, however, must be explained. The Egyptian Parliament noted that the European Parliament report violates the independence of the Public Prosecution and the Egyptian judiciary, which is a breach of the independence of the judiciary in accordance with international conventions. Egypt’s Parliament also mentioned that the European parliament report deliberately ignored all efforts Egypt had made hosting COP27 in Sharm el Shikh. The House’s said that the European Parliament report either was not aware of the developments in Egypt or "neglected them for incomprehensible reasons", including issuing the National strategy for human rights.

Ahmed Abu Zeid — Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs — said in a statement on Wednesday that Egypt is following with great concern the attacks by Iran and Turkey that violate the sovereignty of Iraq and Syria over the past few days. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that his country is “more determined today than ever” to protect its border with Syria from Kurdish fighters. He added that the Turkish moves will ensure the territorial integrity of both Syria and Iraq while launching operations against Kurdish militants in the two countries. Turkey recently hit several targets in Syria after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to launch a ground operation against Kurdish fighters in the north of the country. The Turkish Air Force and artillery have bombed about 500 targets in northern Iraq and Syria since Sunday, Turkish Minister of Defence Hulusi Akar announced on Wednesday.

Mohamed Al-Beltagy — Chairperson of the Egyptian Islamic Finance Association for Islamic Finance — said that the volume of Islamic banking in Egypt recorded about EGP 459bn by the end of September 2022 — an increase of EGP 52bn and a growth rate of 12.8% over September 2021. Islamic banking accounts for about 5% of total banking in the Egyptian market. He pointed out that Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank – Egypt came in second place with a turnover of EGP 104.8bn and a share of 22.9%. The Egyptian banking market has 14 banks that have a license from the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) to offer Islamic banking products. They include fully Islamic banks — such as Faisal Islamic Bank of Egypt, Al-Baraka Bank Egypt, and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank – Egypt — in addition to 11 banks that have Islamic branches in addition to the traditional branches.

Egypt’s Minister of Health and Population Khaled Abdel Ghaffar met with Singapore’s Ambassador in Cairo Dominic Goh on Wednesday to discuss bilateral cooperation between the two parties. According to a statement by the ministry, the meeting discussed enhancing aspects of bilateral cooperation between Egypt and Singapore in the medical field. The meeting also addressed opportunities for cooperation between the two countries in the field of training human resources from health care service providers. Furthermore, the two sides discussed opportunities for visits between officials in the health sector to exchange experiences between the two countries in the field of hospital management systems, basic health care, and preventive services. Additionally, the meeting covered training nursing staff, especially in intensive care, management of nursing services, ER services, etc, along with cooperation in the fields of pharmaceutical production and quality control of drugs, vaccines, serums, and vital preparations, in addition to discussing mechanisms to encourage medical and hospital tourism between the two countries.

Egypt’s Lozan Urban Development Group, the mother company which embraces several Egyptian and Emirati companies, has launched a new entity in an Egyptian-Saudi partnership under the name of “Methaq Development” to develop several distinctive urban projects in Egypt during the coming period with investments of up to EGP 5bn. Abdullah Al-Amoudi, Regional President of Methaq Development, expressed his happiness at his presence in his second homeland Egypt, and his new partnership with the Lozan Development Group, stressing that as Saudi businessmen they are happy to be present as investors in the land of Mahrousa, especially since Egypt is one of the most important countries that have strong economic relations with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Besides, working to encourage and attract more foreign investments in line with the vision of the state in achieving a strong and sustainable economy.” Mahmoud Zayed, Head of Marketing Sector of Lozan Group said. © 2022 Daily News Egypt. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. ( Syndigate.info ).Daily News Egypt

CAIRO – 25 November 2022: Egyptian authorities released on Thursday a new group of 30 pretrial detainees as per a decision by the Public Prosecution. Tarek El-Khouly, a member of the Presidential Pardon Committee, published photos on his social media pages for the release of the new batch. Since President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi activated the committee, more than 1,000 pretrial detainees have been released and several convicts received presidential pardons. The Presidential Pardon Committee, formed in 2016 and reactivated by Sisi in April, aims to release young prisoners of conscience and reintegrate them into society. In addition, the committee receives pardon requests through the National Youth Conference website, Khouly added.