The final preparations for hosting the largest oil, gas, and energy Show are well underway. Themed “North Africa and The Mediterranean: Supporting Sustainable Global Energy Supply and Demand”, The Egypt Petroleum Show (EGYPS) 2023 is held under the auspices of His Excellency President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and with the support of the Ministry of Petroleum & Mineral Resources from 13-15 February 2023. EGYPS 2023 will bring together C-suite officials of international energy companies and attract over 32,000 attendees, including global industry experts, leaders, and decision-makers from the oil, gas, and energy community. More than 260 speakers will address sustainable climate-conscious production of oil and gas, energy transition and decarbonisation, and actions to deliver a net-zero future. EGYPS 2023 will also feature two Awards Ceremonies that celebrate outstanding talents and impactful projects namely Global Equality in Energy Awards and Sustainability in Energy Awards.

CAIRO – 18 December 2022: Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shokry received Saturday a phone call from his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov tackling "all aspects of bilateral relations, including the joint economic projects executed by Russia in Egypt." The ministers discussed the overall status of bilateral relations between Egypt and Russia as well as regional affairs. President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi received in July Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov at Al Itihadiyah Presidential Palace to discuss bilateral relations and issues of mutual concern. Minister Lavrov informed President Sisi with the latest developments of the Ukrainian crisis and relevant Russian moves on the international scale. The meeting was attended by Lavrov's deputy, Russian ambassador to Cairo, Egyptian minister of foreign affairs, and deputy head of the Middle East and North Africa Department at the Russian Foreign Ministry.

CAIRO – 18 December 2022: The Arabic language is one of the pillars of the cultural diversity of humanity. Arabic speakers are distributed on the Arab region and other neighboring countries, such as Turkey, Chad, Mali, Senegal, and Eritrea, as Arabic is of paramount importance to Muslims as a sacred language (the language of the Qur’an). Prayers (and other acts of worship) in Islam are not complete unless some of the Arabic words are mastered. The Arabic language allows entry to a world full of diversity in all its forms and manifestations, including the diversity of origins, stripes and beliefs. Accordingly, it was decided to celebrate the Arabic language on December 18, being the day on which General Assembly Resolution 3190 of December 18,1973 was passed, concerned with the inclusion of the Arabic language among the official and working languages of the United Nations.

Osama Askar, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, inspected on Saturday the project of reclamation and cultivation in Toshka. Askar listened to a detailed explanation that included the latest status of the project according to the performance rates and time plans of the project to achieve the desired results from that agricultural patch added to Egypt’s agricultural area. This was followed by passing through several areas of the project, which aims to create integrated agricultural communities working with the latest science in the field of agricultural reclamation to support the state’s efforts in the field of food security, and achieving the agricultural boom that contributes to self-sufficiency in various agricultural crops. During the inspection tour, Askar praised the efforts exerted by all workers of the project, stressing the importance of taking advantage of all available potentials and capabilities to maximize the benefits of that agricultural patch.

Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said that the Ministry of Finance and the Egyptian Tax Authority are getting ready to launch an incentive program under the rubric “your bill, your protection, your prize” which is the first program of its kind to make the citizen a basic partner for the success of electronic taxes. In a statement on Saturday, Maait said that the program aims at creating a new tax culture that urges citizens to ask for a receipt from the shops within the framework of the state plan to merge the non-official economy in the official system. The drive coincides with the steps taken by the state to realize digital transformation and financial inclusion and transferring to electronic systems, including the e-bill system and e-receipt system, Maait said. The program is designed to guarantee a group of incentives, including getting free buying coupons and other big prizes, he said. The program will work on encouraging citizens to interact with the taxes systems and demand bills and receipts, he said.

The Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Arab Company for Drug Industries and Medical Appliances (ACDIMA), affiliated with the Egyptian Health and Population Ministry, Olfat Ghorab announced that there is a plan to produce 76 high-value cancer medicines. During an interview with the Egyptian TV on Tuesday, Ghorab added that the plan also aims to produce cancer treatment in the first half of 2023. She continued that the manufacture of contraceptive drugs will be fully localized, pointing out that producing medicines locally would reduce the import bill, absorb pharmacy and science graduates, and provide medicine on time, at a value that is 50 percent less than its imported counterpart. Ghorab explained that the targeted local manufacturing will be through a foreign partnership in technology transfer from America and France, with production lines and high capacities in accordance with the standards of manufacturing this type of medicine to ensure the safety of the product. She stressed that the Egyptian medicine is known for its high quality and efficiency, revealing that 90 percent of the medicines are provided locally at a value of LE 48 billion per month, adding: “all medicines will be manufactured in Egypt by the end of 2024.”

Launched under the “100 Million Healthy Lives” presidential initiative, this campaign kicked off on July 13, 2021 and aims to build a disability-free healthy generation. The first phase of the initiative includes detecting 19 genetic diseases in premature infants in hospital nurseries that are affiliated with the Ministry of Health and Population, said the ministry's Spokesman Hossam Abdel Ghaffar. He added that the second phase entails screening newborns in all nurseries of university hospitals, private hospitals and health units nationwide.

Lebanese actress Nour, one of the prominent artists of her generation, was part of the Best Arab Film Award Jury in the 2022 Cairo International Film Festival. Nour also co-stars along with comedy actor Mohamed Henedy in the new film Nabil El Gameel. Daily News Egypt interviewed Nour to learn about her new film and other upcoming works. How do you see the state of cinema now in light of the presence of different platforms for a viewing? Since we are talking about cinema, what about your participation in the movie “Nabil El Gameel”?

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a 46-month $3bn arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) for Egypt. While economic recovery gained momentum in 2021, imbalances also started building amidst a stable exchange rate, high public debt and delayed structural reforms. Russia’s war in Ukraine crystallized these pre-existing vulnerabilities, triggering capital outflows, and, in the context of a still-stabilized exchange rate, reduced the central bank’s foreign reserves and banks’ net foreign assets and widened the exchange rate misalignment,” said Kristalina Georgieva, IMF Managing Director. A permanent shift to a flexible exchange rate regime will help mitigate external shocks and prevent imbalances from re-emerging and allow monetary policy to focus on maintaining price stability. Their strong ownership and track record under previous Fund-supported programs and political support for the policy package are important risk-mitigating factors to achieving the objectives of the Fund-supported program.”

Hours before the World Cup final between France and Argentina, the French Football Federation announced that three players of the French national team were infected with the Camel flu or MERS-CoV. According to Mustafa, no scientific evidence has proved its transmission from one person to another until now. Unlike the recently spread COVID-19 virus this strain is rather transmitted from camels to humans. The seriousness of the virus lies in its high morality rate, which reaches 35 percent of all infected people, he added. He also added that the largest infection rate in one country was recorded in Seoul.

CAIRO – 16 December 2022: Personnel of the Egyptian border guards and Sudanese infantry, who are trained to secure borders, have concluded their joint multiday drills, Guardian of the South-2The joint drills took place in the border guard fields training complex within the joint plan to back horizons of military cooperation between the armed forces of the two sisterly countries, the Egyptian Military Spokesman said in a statement on Friday. Commander of the Egyptian Border Guards Emad Al-Yamani conveyed the greetings of Minister of Defense Mohamed Zaki and Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces Osama Askar to the forces who participated in the training. Yamani hailed the level of professionalism showed by the armed personnel during the training and their capabilities to carry out their joint duties with high efficiency. “The training comes within the framework of enhancing aspects of joint cooperation between the Egyptian and Sudanese armed forces and exchanging experiences in working on the latest systems and methods in the field of border security,” the statement read. Egypt and Sudan carried out the joint military drills Guardian of the South-1 in October 2021 at Mohamed Naguib Military Base in Egypt.

The International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) announced, through its official account on Twitter, that Morocco will host the 2022 FIFA Club World Cup. FIFA officially announced the launch of the 2022 Club World Cup in Morocco from February 1 to February 11, 2023. The FIFA Executive Board voted to grant Morocco the honor of organizing the global event for the third time in its history. Morocco hosted the 2013 and 2014 editions of the FIFA Club World Cup. The FIFA did not announce the clubs participating in the tournament.

CAIRO - 16 December 2022: Egypt condemned on Thursday a deadly attack on a UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which killed an Irish soldier and injured three others on the previous day in the coastal village of Al-Aqbieh in South Lebanon. “Egypt extends its sincere condolences to the UNIFIL envoy, the government and people of friendly Ireland, and the victim’s family,” the Egyptian foreign ministry said in a statement. The ministry also wished the injured a speedy recovery. “Egypt has stressed the need to respect and ensure the security of the UN peacekeeping elements in light of their pivotal role in promoting peace and stability in accordance with the tasks assigned to them by the Security Council,’ the ministry added. Irish peacekeeper Seán Rooney was killed after his convoy was attacked by “armed locals angry at the UN presence in their village,” Irish reports said, citing preliminary assessments by the UN.

Egypt’s Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Ahmed Issa met with Director General of International Relations at the Saudi Ministry of Tourism, Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Musallam, on the sidelines of the 25th meeting of the Arab Ministerial Council for Tourism at the Arab League in Cairo. The meeting aims to discuss ways to enhance cooperation between the two brotherly countries in the field of tourism, by activating a number of tourism initiatives, including the tourism education and training initiative, and the development of tourism activities and joint marketing programmes. The Saudi delegation included Vice President of the Saudi Red Sea Authority for Digital Transformation, Khalid bin Fahd Al-Thunayan; Advisor for International Relations, Abdulaziz bin Saleh Al-Gharib; and Advisor to the President of the Red Sea Authority, Ayman Ibrahim Al-Ibrahim. From the Egyptian side, Deputy Minister for Tourism Affairs, Ghada Shalaby, and Assistant Minister for Technical Affairs, Youmna Al-Bahar, attended the meeting. This comes within the efforts of the two parties to activate bilateral partnerships and enhance regional cooperation in the tourism sector.

Etisal organised its regular meeting within the framework of the Meet the Government series with Khaled Sharif — Assistant Minister of Tourism and Antiquities for Digital Transformation. In a press statement issued by the organisation, Sherif stressed that the tourism and antiquities sector is a promising sector in light of the Egyptian state’s interest in implementing the digital transformation system in projects related to this sector. Sherif added that the current digital revolution has prompted the ministry to adopt a new strategy. He also said that the ministry has an estimated 30 digital transformation projects, including projects related to infrastructure, which include unifying the e-mail domain, increasing the internet speed in hotels, providing internet in archaeological sites and museums, and connecting internal offices. Sherif called on Egyptian companies and start-ups to submit projects in this regard to the ministry or through innovative new projects that may contribute to revitalising tourism and facilitating the movement of tourists in Egypt.