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follow up alex library opens at last the world’s eyes moved briefly to alexandria on october 16 to watch the extravagant inauguration of the much-anticipated bibliotheca alexandrina. in a ceremony glimmering with ancient egyptian charm, heads of state, royalty and dignitaries gathered to celebrate the “rebirth” of the library, located on a 45,000-square-meter site on the eastern harbor of the mediterranean city, near where archaeologists believe the great library of alexandria once stood. the new library’s architecture is meant to protect it from the fate of its predecessor, which burnt down in the fourth century. but whether the library will live up to the freedom of thought and expression encouraged by its ancient equivalent has yet to be seen. “egypt has exerted all efforts to make the new bibliotheca alexandrina… civilized… in its roots, modern in its content and international in its role and reach,” president hosni mubarak said to the audience in the library’s great reading hall, including the presidents of france and greece, queen sofia of spain, queen rania of jordan and 14 nobel laureates. fireworks, musical performances, dancing and speeches helped mark the occasion. in a speech televised in egypt and covered by media across the world, mubarak said the library would be “a beacon of knowledge and a meeting center of civilizations.” previously scheduled for april, the official opening was postponed due to violence in the palestinian territories. the bibliotheca’s predecessor, the great library of alexandria, dominated the ancient mediterranean intellectual world, housing 700,000 scrolls of classical civilization, including the works of aristotle and plato and original manuscripts of sophocles, aeschylus and euripides. the modern version now aims to attract researchers and scholars from around the globe. organizers said the library would focus on mediterranean culture, rather than competing directly with institutions like the library of congress, with its collection of 20 million books. as of the opening, the bibliotheca houses just 250,000 books, but the intention is to build a collection of 4 million, with total storage potential for 8 million. a digital archive, meanwhile, includes 10 billion web pages dating back to 1996, library officials said. while some commentators hope the new library will
spark a resurgence of freedom of thought and expression in the region,
others are unsure if that goal is attainable. critics in egypt and
in the foreign press argue that books deemed to be immoral, to reflect
poorly on the country or that would anger religious authorities
could be censored before finding their way onto library shelves. the $230 million international project was funded by donations from governments around the world, and especially in the middle east. a $21 million check from saddam hussein was signed before the gulf war. suzanne mubarak is the chair of the library’s 22-member board of trustees, which includes the ministers of education, culture and foreign affairs, as well as the governor of alexandria and the president of alexandria university. the board is expected to discuss the future role of the library in upcoming meetings.
a better place for industrial
waste in keeping with alexandria’s “cleaning up the city” campaign, a hazardous waste plant is due to open late this month to dispose of up to one-third of the governorate’s industrial waste. municipal waste collection in alexandria was privatized in 2001, with the signing of a 15-year, £e 1.7 billion deal with french company onyx, with the company taking responsibility for collecting, transporting, recycling and composting all the city’s industrial and municipal waste. ahmed khalaf, secretary-general of the alexandria governorate, said alexandria was at the forefront of waste-disposal management in egypt, adding that clean-up efforts were part of a wider campaign to revive pride in the city. “restoring the historical sites and protecting the environment go hand in hand; these projects support each other,” khalaf said. co-sponsored by egypt and finland, the plant will be located in nasreya, 50 kilometers southwest of alexandria, near the burg al arab military airport. “until now, we have had no other means of disposing of hazardous waste, and people didn’t know how to do it properly,” khalaf added. project leader per kock, a finnish aid official, said alexandria was chosen as the site for the plant because it is home to 40 percent of egypt’s industry. hazardous waste, he said, is currently dumped – albeit illegally – into the municipal landfill along with other garbage, or else poured into sewers, stored in wastelands or sold as by-products. to take care of municipal waste in alexandria, residents and companies will pay waste-collection fees based on their electricity bills – a method that has been criticized for not considering the actual amount of waste produced. project managers say the plant is ideally located on arid, unpopulated desert land sufficiently far from the shore, yet with sufficient access to infrastructure, water and electricity. it will be able to dispose of 40,000 cubic meters of solid inorganic hazardous waste per year. site inspector jukka leppänen explained that the landfill would be lined by a 2-millimeter-thick plastic film, further covered by geotextile, a felt-like material that serves as a filter and support structure for the waste. two pipes will direct possible leakage waters and rainwater to evaporation ponds. the site will receive inorganic waste from the metallurgic and metal industries, including ashes, cement rubble, sludge and water. pharmaceutical, nuclear or liquid and volatile wastes such as oils and solvents, mercury and cyanides, however, will not be accepted, as they could penetrate the plastic film, kock said. all loads of waste coming into the landfill will first be tested, and exiting vehicles will pass through a washing area, he said. with environmental awareness still at its infancy in egypt, whether companies will use the site or resort to old methods of waste disposal remains an open question – especially given that polluters will have to pick up the tab for using the facility. at this point, awareness of the new waste-disposal facility is especially low. the environmental affairs committee of the alexandria businessmen’s association (aba) – which has organized seminars and workshops to encourage investment in environmentally friendly projects – had not heard about the landfill project when approached by business monthly. khalaf, however, is confident that the plant will be a success, with hopes that as many as 50 companies will make use of it soon after it opens. “so far, people have been very pleased with the project,” he said. kock, meanwhile, said that similar plants could be built in other governorates. “the idea is to show that the plan works, and then you can continue from there,” he said. management of this facility is expected to eventually fall under
private sector control. sanna negus loans postponed as tourist
numbers rise a fantastic summer for tourism and a drop in imports has led donor institutions to postpone $1 billion in quick-disbursement loans to egypt to help nurture its economic recovery. immediately after the attacks of september 11, 2001, the government predicted the balance of payment deficit in egypt’s current account would reach $2 billion for the fiscal year 2001/02. in response to the government’s forecast, the world bank and the african development bank (adb) agreed in february to each lend egypt $500 million to help it cope with the economic downturn, in return for reforms in trade and customs regulations. last month, however, the government and the two institutions agreed to postpone the $1 billion total loan, given that the country’s balance of payment deficit had narrowed considerably. preliminary central bank of egypt (cbe) figures put the deficit at a mere $8.5 million, while the world bank’s figures record a deficit of $210 million – a discrepancy expected to narrow once the cbe accounts for net errors and omissions in its final economic report. either way, the deficit is nowhere near as bad as what was predicted. “based on this more positive balance of payments outcome, [the parties] agreed that there was no need for the time being for quick-disbursing support,” the world bank said in a statement issued october 9. the world bank attributes the turnaround to a fast-paced recovery of tourism and a drop in imports. according to government figures, imports declined by more than $1.5 billion in the 2001/02 fiscal year, compared to the previous fiscal year. minister of tourism mamdouh el beltagui, meanwhile, said that the 574,000 visitors who came to egypt in august – the highest monthly number on record – represented an “unprecedented” recovery for the national economy. the number of foreign tourists increased by 10 percent over 2001, he said. still, the loan has not been canceled altogether. the world bank stated it would be “ready to respond quickly,” in the event of external pressures on tourism – namely, a us attack on iraq. “if [a future shock] does take place, then we can imagine that the tourism sector will once again be badly hit and that [egypt] will require support,” said mahmoud a. ayub, world bank director for egypt, yemen and djibouti. ayub added that skimping on imports “is not a very sustainable way” for egypt to approach economic adjustment. “if the economy has to pick up, imports will go up,” he said. in february, donor countries and institutions pledged some $10.3
billion from 2002 to 2004 (including some funds from earlier packages)
to help egypt weather the global economic downturn. glen c. carey ifc offers help to smes he international finance corporation (ifc) plans to establish a series of specialized small and medium-sized enterprise (sme) assistance facilities in egypt, as well as in algeria and morocco, according to an ifc press release of october 9. the $20 million program in egypt is consistent with efforts by the government to expand the role of smes in developing the economy. a new ifc regional office in cairo – the north africa enterprise development facility (naedf) – will provide technical assistance to local entrepreneurs to build commercially viable businesses, according to the ifc press release. naedf will also expand financing for smes by giving technical assistance to selected financial institutions and by introducing new sme financing mechanisms and credit-risk products. by boosting the capacity of private sector consulting firms and training institutions, along with other intermediaries, the ifc – an arm of the world bank – hopes to develop sme activity in the local economy. antoine courcelle-labrouse, naedf director in egypt, said the program would provide hands-on experience and concrete advice to all kinds of smes. naedf, he added, will promote policy reforms to improve the local business climate and also establish business-to-business programs between smes and the larger players in the market. “we will very quickly establish partnerships with commercial banks and start discussions with large firms,” he said. the facility will be managed by the world bank group sme department and funded by france, switzerland and other donors. the cairo office will eventually be followed by facilities in algeria and morocco. the ifc program was announced not long after government statements calling for greater financial support for smes. prime minister atef ebeid said in september that the government would allocate 10 percent of its budget to purchase goods and services from smes and introduce tax holidays to increase their local market share. the government wants to develop smes in order to expand employment opportunities outside the public sector. the ifc is also collaborating with the united states agency for international development (usaid) in a separate program to assist small businesses in egypt. the two agencies are working with egyptian private sector companies through the newly established lead foundation, a non-governmental organization set up to provide “vocational training for underprivileged egyptians and finance for micro and small businesses,” the ifc and usaid announced in a joint statement. world bank president james wolfensohn, who recently visited cairo, and us deputy assistant secretary of state elizabeth cheney announced the establishment of the lead foundation at a press conference in cairo on october 12. cheney said usaid would provide $7 million for the micro-finance program while the ifc would provide technical assistance to a job-training project focusing on plumbing and automotive bodywork. cheney said she hoped that egyptian women would be a “main recipient” of the aid programs aimed at the underprivileged areas of cairo. according to wolfensohn, who also met with president hosni mubarak and prime minister ebeid, some 17 percent of egypt’s 68-million population lives “in absolute poverty.” mohamed mansour, who chairs the lead foundation, is president of
the mansour group, which assembles opel and other general motors
vehicles in egypt. glen c. carey saudi arabia addresses
umra demand umra traffic has taken off since 2000, when saudi arabia loosened regulations on pilgrims wishing to perform this mini-pilgrimage, which, unlike the hajj or full pilgrimage, does not have to be performed at a specific time of the year. religious tourist traffic to the kingdom has become the third largest contributor to its gdp, with saudi government figures indicating that tourism in 2001 generated $9.6 billion in revenues for the home of islam’s holiest sites. the key seems to have been allowing a bit of regular tourism on the side. in september 2000, the saudi government began to issue umra visas lasting one month, up from two weeks, and announced that pilgrims could visit any place in the country during their visits, rather than just mecca and medina. the change came to address the problem of hundreds of thousands of tourists overstaying their visas annually. at the same time, the ministry of pilgrimage issued contracts to around 200 saudi travel agents to handle all umra traffic into saudi arabia and to appoint subcontractors all over the world. to eliminate the sale of fraudulent umra packages, any overseas travel agency wishing to offer umra packages must have an office in jeddah, mecca or medina, receive pilgrims at their entry point, provide accommodation and ensure their safe departure from saudi arabia. saudi arabian airlines (saa), the kingdom’s national carrier, has expanded its services to account for the increase in religious traffic. saa carries around 50 percent of umra air traffic. “it is the government’s direction. the country itself is supporting the increase in umra traffic,” saa marketing director mostafa al shinnawi said. the airline announced new customized umra packages at the mediterranean travel fair held in cairo in september. one package allows business travelers to make a short stopover to saudi arabia, be assisted and picked up at the airport, driven to mecca, perform the eight-hour umra, and be driven back to the airport for a connecting flight. according to saa figures, expenditure on business travel to the eastern mediterranean region should double by 2010, replacing the united states and europe as the destination of choice for regional travelers. longer, one- to three-day packages come complete with three-, four- or five-star hotel bookings and transportation. “we started these programs to make it easier for muslims to go and perform the umra, because it is so important for them,” al shinnawi said, adding that negotiations are still in the works to make it easier to arrange an entry visa upon arrival through jeddah or medina airports. under the new regulations, muslims now have seven and a half months
each year during which they can apply for umra visas. the umra season
lasts for almost eight months a year, the remainder of time being
given over to visa applications for the hajj. daliah merzaban protesters deride world
bank as business leaders talk development he packed auditorium of the commerce syndicate was bustling with condemnation as hundreds of activists and intellectuals gathered to protest world bank president james wolfensohn’s visit to cairo in october. the conference, organized by the anti-globalization egyptian group (ageg), gave a boost to opponents of world bank-advocated structural reforms. ageg spokesperson mamdouh habashi said the event brought together a wide spectrum of participants who “feel hurt by the neo-liberal agenda.” habashi said the group hoped to get egyptians talking about the impact of globalization. “we have to learn from the experiences of others,” he said, pointing to the economic crises in southeast asia, russia and brazil. “we don’t want it to happen here.” ageg is demanding that the government withdraw from negotiations with the world bank and the international monetary fund (imf). the group also wants all the debts of developing countries forgiven. activists further asserted that national privatization efforts were undermining egypt’s universal social services. “the world bank and imf promote the privatization of government services, require the weakening of labor laws, and enforce policies that sacrifice the rights of the working people and the poor people in egypt and the world,” a flyer circulated by ageg said. speaking at the conference, egyptian economist and unabashed neo-marxist samir amin said the anti-globalization movement stood in opposition to the corporate globalization “that serves the exclusive interests of maximizing the profits of a limited number of global companies, and which is disregarding all other social and national interests.” amin said that the world bank and other institutions were trying to implement a “system of neo-liberal corporate dictatorship.” some participants – including british anti-globalization activist jonathan neal – were quick to link ageg’s cause to that of organizations like the egyptian popular committee for solidarity with the palestinian intifada. as the cairo times of october 17 pointed out, “the cross currents between the anti-globalization activists and movements in support of the intifada or against an attack on iraq are becoming more obvious, not only in egypt… but also increasingly elsewhere.” yet the linking of the causes is sure to be seen in some quarters as opportunistic and misleading. the egyptian business organizations that are pushing most strongly for economic reform also condemn the occupation in palestine and warn against attacking iraq. world bank president wolfensohn arrived in cairo on october 11 for several days of meetings with egyptian officials and corporate leaders. in a briefing to wolfensohn, prime minister atef ebeid outlined details of recently passed economic legislation covering mortgages, money laundering, free-trade zones and customs-tariff reforms. on october 12, wolfensohn attended a gala luncheon for the lead foundation, a new usaid-funded project to provide micro-credit loans and job training to poor people through private sector partnerships. the international finance corporation, the financial arm of the world bank, is providing technical assistance for the lead foundation, which is headed by mohamed mansour, president of the mansour group. “our initiative calls on private sector resources for training and jobs,” mansour said, “we think it is a winning combination that can make a positive impact on some of the community.” wolfensohn told an audience of egypt’s business elite that helping the poor was good for business and for world peace. “people in poverty, people of disadvantage are not a liability; they are an asset,” the world bank president said. “it is only by working with people, drawing on their inner strengths and giving them an opportunity that there is any hope for a planet of peace.” across town, ageg activists dismissed the foundation’s efforts
as “purely cosmetic nonsense.” tariq hassan-gordon pr specialists revisit
luxor erception is more important than reality,” said nicholas archer, director of british public-relations (pr) firm the company agency, speaking of how the media can shape public opinion. leading a seminar on the need to rebuild confidence in travel and tourism, archer underlined the role of pr in balancing the distorted impressions that people sometimes get from the media. “we need to remember that the public have developed an appetite for bad news. and the media fuels this hunger and then seeks to feed it,” archer said at the annual meeting of the international public relations association (ipra), held in cairo from october 13 to 15. according to archer, egypt’s young and underdeveloped pr industry will become vital for the survival of the country’s tourist industry, which is highly vulnerable to both internal and external shocks. archer worked for the egyptian government after the luxor massacre in november 1997. research by pr consultants, assessing people’s responses to media coverage, was the key to overcoming the drop in tourism that followed the incident, he said. focus groups and general polling are still needed to identify what fears tourists have, and how to address those concerns to maintain tourist traffic, archer said. after the militant attack at luxor, he conducted polls of tourists with loula zaklama, director of local rada research & public relations company. “research told us what people were afraid of: that no mechanisms had been put in place to stop that kind of atrocity from happening again,” he said. the press, he said, failed to publicize that the police force, army and interior ministry had, in fact, enacted more stringent security measures. archer said he and zaklama subsequently organized tours of the country, so that the foreign press and a pr advisory panel could see the enhanced security for themselves. the intensive pr campaign led to the publishing of a white paper that gained “massive media and political attention,” archer said. “travel warnings by the british, american, french, germany and italian governments were dropped, [and] within 11 months the tourist figures were back to 75 percent of pre-luxor levels.” the conference also included seminars on the impact of e-commerce on global public relations, the partnership between pr and investor relations, and the role of public relations in developing countries. zaklama spoke about the importance of measurement in the intangible field of pr. around 160 participants from pr associations around the world gathered
for the conference, the second time the annual ipra meeting has
been held in egypt. asmaa waguih experience stands in for
capital nder the government’s current reform strategy, bankers with private sector experience are being appointed to head the country’s big state-owned banks. the rationale is that these individuals know how to run a bank efficiently. former citibank executive mahmoud abdel latif is one such banker. in august, he was appointed chairman of the bank of alexandria as well as of the egyptian american bank (eab). abdel latif said during an october 15 panel discussion that the hiring of bankers with private sector experience is a sign the government has finally given the green light to banking reform. “a lot of newcomers have been injected into the public sector banks,” he said, adding that private sector bankers “know the market and social situation and have been through similar situations.” reforming management practices, not privatization, is the key to fixing the slow-moving sector, abdel latif said. his restructuring plans for the bank of alexandria, with 8,000 employees, include technical and interpersonal training, introducing new technology and implementing stricter lending practices. management changes have occurred gradually over the past two years. prime minister atef ebeid appointed the former head of citibank operations in egypt, ahmed al-bardaie, as banque du caire chairman in march 2000. mona yassin, previously director general of citibank in egypt, was recently made vice chair of banque du caire. most recently, on october 6, al alam al youm reported that new members had been appointed to the boards of the bank of alexandria, banque misr and the national bank of egypt. the recent board appointments came just as bad loans returned yet again to haunt the public sector banks. around 60 cases of fraud await review by prosecutor-general maher abdel wahed, weekly magazine al-mussawar reported on october 12. the highest-profile case involves luxury-car vendor hossam aboul fotouh, former banque du caire managing director mohamed aboul fattah and another banque du caire executive, samia sabur. aboul fotouh, who holds the license to assemble bmw sedans in egypt, reportedly received loans from several banks worth £e 1.7 billion, including £e 1.1 billion pounds from banque du caire, without giving adequate guarantees. aboul fattah, the banker, “provided loans worth £e 12 billion in violation of banking regulations,” al-mussawar reported. cbe figures indicate that the total value of non-performing loans is £e 49.7 billion, or roughly 14 percent of the country’s total gdp. under a new banking law introduced to parliament last month, the cbe would receive greater powers to regulate lending and banking activity. according to al alam al youm of october 15, cbe governor mahmoud abul-oyoun said new banking reforms would be announced soon, including measures to establish a new cbe credit department to monitor lending activity. the government evidently intends to secure its hold on the banking sector even while encouraging restructuring. on october 1, president hosni mubarak announced, under little media limelight, that supervision of the central bank of egypt (cbe) would be shifted from the prime minister’s desk to that of the president. business monthly |
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