Mubarak chairs meeting of new government
Egypt, Politics, 10/11/1999

New Prime Minister Atef Ebeid was sworn in before President Hosni Mubarak on Monday morning at Heliopolis presidential headquarters.

The swearing-in ceremony was attended by Chief of the Presidential Cabinet Zakariya Azmi.

Members of the new cabinet, then, took the constitutional oath before the President in the presence of Ebeid and Dr. Azmi.

Following the ceremony, President Mubarak chaired the first meeting of the new cabinet.

After the constitutional oath-taking session of Egypt's new cabinet today, President Hosni Mubarak will receive Prime Minister Atef Ebeid and his cabinet to define his views on the country's future action plan.

The President will explain his instructions concerning the main targets for future national action and the program of action of the new government.

The Prime Minister said he had completed the program of action according to the directives of the President. "The program has been drafted on cards and papers" to define, in detail, the duties of every ministry in line with the requirements of the new phase, he added.

"The rapporteurs of the six ministerial working groups have been chosen and will be presented together with the program of action to President Mubarak during his meeting with the cabinet ministers today," he said.

Ebeid said rapporteurs for the six ministerial working groups were chosen as follows:

-Deputy Premier and Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation Youssef Wali as rapporteur for the production sector group.
-Minister of Defense and Military Production Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi as rapporteur for the national security group.
-Minister of Information Safwat el-Sherif as rapporteur for the human development working group.
-Minister of Economy and International Cooperation as rapporteur for the economic working group.
-Minister of Works and Water Resources Mahmoud Abu Zeid as rapporteur for the working group overseeing the giant projects.
-Minister of Housing and New Communities Mohamed Ibrahim Soliman as rapporteur for the utilities working group.

"Immediately after meeting with President Mubarak, the cabinet will hold its first session and the new government will begin the implementation of the programs," Ebeid said.

At this session, the instructions will be defined to each working group and every cabinet member," he added.

"The new cabinet has prepared a short-term working program that will be examined in detail in two weeks when the cabinet convenes for the second time," expounded the Prime Minister.

"The short term phase covers the period starting with the assumption of the tasks of the new cabinet until the end of June with the end of the fiscal year," he said, adding that the short-term program rests on the following goals and mechanisms:

- The realization of economic stability in all markets, namely the money, trade and investment markets.
- Investment activation in Egypt.
- The achievement of significant progress in services presented and related to the public, especially social, health, educational services and government performance.
- The drafting of a program on the comprehensive care of youth and its immediate application with the aim to boost their potentials and motivate them to work and produce.
- The formation of groups that will prepare leaders to groom new generations of second and third front lines for the assumption of responsibilities.


Ebeid revealed that a program on technological development had been completed, adding that it is concerned with the development of the information industry, and was formulated by international companies together with Egyptian experts.

"The program will go into action with the start of duties of the new cabinet, its goal is to develop, support and modernize the informatics industry in Egypt," he said.

"This industry is the first component of the technological progress program that President Mubarak supervises and personally follows up," he said.

President Mubarak had defined the priorities of national action of Ebeidís cabinet as follows:

- The steady and immediate implementation of national mega projects as a vital necessity for progress and growth.
- Providing the opportunity to the youth to effectively participate in the program for comprehensive progress.
- The application of the national project for technology progress by mobilizing all the society's efforts to use and produce technology, including advanced technology and introducing it to all aspects of life in Egypt.
- Deepening the understanding of the "state of institutions" on all fronts.
- The strict abidance towards the realization of social justice and safeguarding the interests of the lower-income brackets throughout the various phases of development and progress.
- The improvement of the performance of the Egyptian economy in the next few years.
- Attributing more attention to development of areas that have not received enough attention especially in upper Egypt and villages.
- The execution of the comprehensive program for administrative reform and simplifying bureaucratic procedures in the various government bodies.
- The drafting of an integrated vision for the effective justice insuring the stability of legal conditions.

Previous Stories:
  New Egyptian government to be sworn in Monday   (10/9/1999)
  Formation of new Egyptian cabinet on Saturday   (10/7/1999)
  New Egyptian Prime Minister   (10/5/1999)

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