Egypt: resignation of Obeid and assigning Ahmad Nazif
Egypt, Politics, 7/10/2004

President Hosni Mubrak of Egypt yesterday authorized the minister of communications Ahmad Nazif to form the new government after the government of Atif Obeid gave its resignation following an emergency meeting for the government lasted for less than half an hour to prepare the statement of resignation, during which Nazif left the headquarters of the Cabinet, 10 minutes before the end of the meeting heading for the Republic's presidency after he was summoned to be there.

The Egyptian TV announced that Mubarak who returned back on Wednesday from a medical treatment in Germany " expressed thanks to Atef Obeid and members of his ( resigned) government over the efforts they made upon assuming their responsibilities." Mubarak received Ahmad Nazif ( 52 year old) in his house at Mesr al-Jedida area. The designated prime minister is due to start his consultations to chose members of the new government.

A military official said that it is expected that Mubarak will change most of the old ministers in Obeid's government and replace them with new faces. Ahmad Nazif is considered the 7th prime minister under the rule of Mubarak and he is the youngest among them. Nazif is also the first unspecialized prime minister in the economic affairs since 1987. Nazif occupied the post of the minister of telecommunications in Obeid's government since its formation in 1999. Nazif was born in Cairo in July 1955 and has a master in engineering from Cairo university in 1973 and has a PHD in computer engineering from Canada.

It was due that Mubarak would have made the ministerial reshuffle in June but this was postponed because of his travel to Germany where he underwent back surgery.

This change in the government came amid increased call for reforms following the criticism addressed to Obeid's government economic performance. The decision of Obeid's government to liberalize the exchange rate of the Egyptian pound in January 2003 resulted in an increase in prices between 30-80% for the imported items, as the Egyptian currency lost 56% of its value.

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