Egypt's lawmakers approved a limited cabinet reshuffle on Sunday, with four new ministers named for the portolios of local development, culture, tourism and the public business sector. The reshuffle of PM Sherif Ismail's cabinet is the third since it was first appointed in September 2015, with the two previous reshuffles taking place in March 2016 and February 2017. The four new ministers were proposed by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi but required the approval of parliament. Abu Bakr El-Guindy, head of official statistics agency CAPMAS has been appointed as minister of local development. Ines Abdel Dayem, head of the Cairo Opera House, has been appointed as culture minister. Rania Al-Mashat, a Central Bank of Egypt sub governor, has been named tourism minister. Khaled Al-Badawy, CEO of a joint-stock private-equity firm established by the National Bank of Egypt, has been chosen to head the ministry of the public business sector. Two new deputies for the ministries of housing and health were also appointed as part of the reshuffle. According to the Egyptian constitution, the president can reshuffle the cabinet following consultation with the prime minister and with the approval of parliament by an absolute majority of attendees. Below is a brief "who's who" of the newly appointed ministers. Abu Bakr El-Guindy Born in 1949, Abu Bakr El-Guindy has just been appointed Egypt's minister of local development. A 1968 graduate of Egypt's Military Academy and veteran of the 1973 war, El-Guindy graduated with a master's degree in Strategic Resources Management from the US-based National Defense University in 1995. He was appointed as the head of Egypt's Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) in 2005. El-Guindy replaces Hisham El-Sherif. Ines Abdel-Dayem Abdel-Dayem is the first woman to head the culture ministry in Egypt's history. She replaces Helmi El-Namnam. The 58-year-old Abdel-Dayem graduated from the flute department of the Cairo Conservatory in 1984, and continued her studies in France, where she obtained a PhD from the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris in 1990. In 1982, she won first prizes from the Fédération Nationale des Unions des Conservatoires Municipaux and the Concours Général de Musique et d'Art Dramatique in France – in addition top awards in chamber music and solo flute performances. She was appointed as the head of Cairo Opera House in February 2012. The renowned flutist was dismissed from her position as chairwoman of the Opera House during the rule of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi but returned to the position following his ouster. Khaled El-Badawy The new Minister of the Public Business Sector Khaled El-Badawy was born in1971. El-Badawy graduated from the Faculty of Economics and Political Sciences at Cairo University in 1994. El-Badawy began his career in banking in Egypt's CIB before gaining international experience while working for banks in Bahrain and Kuwait. He was appointed as CFO of Egypt-based Qalaa Holdings' subsidiary ARESCO before serving as the managing director of Qalaa Holdings. Later, he was appointed managing director of Al-Ahly Capital, the joint-stock private-equity firm established by the National Bank of Egypt in 2016. Khaled El-Badawy is replacing Ashraf El-Sharkawy. Rania Al-Mashat Rania Al-Mashat is Egypt's new minister of tourism and the first woman to lead the ministry in Egypt's history. Al-Mashat, 42, is a graduate of the American University in Cairo. She earned her MA and PhD in economics from the University of Maryland, College Park, in the United States. A well-known economist in local and international circles with wide expertise in economics and monetary policies, she has served as sub-governor of the Central Bank of Egypt, a member of the stock market board and a senior advisor with the International Monetary Fund. Al-Mashat replaces Yahia Rashed in the post.
