Mrs Mubarak opens new projects symbolising gov't pledge to enhance women's status

Egypt's First Lady Suzanne Mubarak, chairperson of the National Council for Women (NCW), yesterday opened several projects, which are intended to improve NCW services nationwide.

The Cairo-based projects include a computerized documentation and information center, a training center for female owners of small businesses, and conference rooms.

The first facility, which occupies the fourth floor of the National Democratic Party (NDP) headquarters, is considered the most advanced information center in Egypt.

The center is equipped with state-of-the-art information technology providing accurate data on the true status of Egyptian women. The center also has a main server with an electronic archive to supply NCW branches nationwide with requests of information.

The training center, housed on the second floor, offers programs in management and business skills for female owners of small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs).

The center includes several units for technical and consultancy services for businesswomen.

After the opening ceremony, Mrs Mubarak listened to a briefing by two women trainees who had attended training courses in business administration. The center has a number of lecture rooms and a main hall for seminars and viewing educational films.

In addition, the facility is provided with a main library that has more than 3,000 Arabic and English books on managerial skills. The library has a vast number of computers and an advanced audio-visual section for teaching English.

Mrs Mubarak later opened the new conference room, where she met with representatives of donor nations.

Addressing the representatives, Mrs Mubarak said that activities to improve women's status had become a main element in government development plans. She also referred to the appointment of the first female judge in Egypt's history, saying that this was a great leap forward towards removing obstacles to women's progress in Egypt.

In her speech, Mrs Mubarak added that the newly opened facilities needed more training programs as well as closer cooperation with international organizations. She also expressed the sincere gratitude of the NCW to the representatives for their assistance in equipping the new facilities.

Mrs Mubarak told the meeting that the council had completed its five-year women's development strategy, which had already been incorporated into the Government's five-year plan.

Likewise, the representatives expressed their full appreciation of Mrs Mubarak's relentless efforts to upgrading the status of women in Egypt.

Following the speech, Mrs Mubarak presided over a two-hour meeting, which discussed a number of reports on the NCW's present and future projects. The reports dealt with progress in implementing projects to assist female breadwinners nationwide, adult literacy programs for women, and boosting cooperation ties between the NCW and UN agencies.

The meeting also discussed an appraisal report on NCW activities during the past year, NCW secretary-general Ferkhanda Hassan told reporters. The Council had launched a LE 2 million project to improve living standards for female householders.

Part of the scheme is the offer of soft loans to 4,000 female breadwinners, which they can use for setting up their own small businesses, Hassan said. The meeting also reviewed the council's activities and its provincial projects, which offer integrated services and training programs to women, she concluded.