Ibrahim Nafie lauds the achievements of the Arab world's "paper of record" Al-Ahram is celebrating 130 years of excellence as the paper of record for Egypt and the wider Arab world. Al-Ahram is a byword for life in this country, a reliable monitor of what happens to the entire nation. No researcher can examine Egyptian history over the past 130 years without looking for the finer details on the pages of Al-Ahram. The best minds of the nation wrote for this paper: Mohamed Abdu, Taha Hussein, Tawfiq El-Hakim, Zaki Naguib Mahmoud, Youssef Idris, Naguib Mahfouz, Louis Awad, Tharwat Abaza, Bint Al-Shatie, Lutfi Al-Kholi, and Mohamed Sayed Ahmed. Some of those great men were our contemporaries, some were before our time, and more are yet to come. The burden of running this outstanding organisation was assumed by exceptional men: Bishara Takla, Mohamed Hassanein Heikal, Ihsan Abdel-Quddus and Youssef Al-Sibaie, to mention just a few. I was chief editor of Al-Ahram and I learned this quickly: you're not just judged by the readers, but by history. Heads of state acknowledge Al-Ahram 's stature and contribution to the nation. Presidents Gamal Abdel-Nasser and Anwar El-Sadat honoured us with their visits, and President Hosni Mubarak toured our facilities five times since 1984. The president came to Al-Ahram on 15 December 1984 for a meeting with the writers. On 22 November 1987, he toured our printing house in Qalyub. On 8 March 1993, Mubarak inaugurated the new building. On 12 October 1996, he visited the printing facilities in 6 October City. Mubarak's recent visit, his fifth, is proof of the his appreciation for excellence and aptitude. President Mubarak is a man with a vision. And his vision is one of stability and achievement, continuity and excellence. Change matters less to the president than the context in which change is made. Mubarak is keeping an eye on the broader picture, the framework within which progress is maintained. Two periods of change have left their mark on Al-Ahram. The first period was that of Heikal, which lasted about 18 years. The second lasted about 25 years when I was at the helm. In these two periods, progress was fast and immense. In 1968, under Heikal, Al-Ahram moved from its small offices on Mazloum Street to a new and imposing building on Galaa Street, costing LE4 million at the time. When I ended my tenure as chief editor, Al-Ahram 's assets stood at LE1,400 million. Al-Ahram will remain an outstanding organisation despite the lies and rumours levelled against it. Al-Ahram has been under attack from those types who read the last page of the book and forget the beginning, from people who pick on the imperfections and forget the main achievements. Al-Ahram, as you may know, is among the big 10 newspapers in the world and is number one in this region. Such accomplishments came through hard work and are therefore unassailable. President Mubarak's visit to Al-Ahram is a homage to its national, regional, and international prestige. And perhaps the visit is a signal for the new generations to take the torch and keep it burning bright. Al-Ahram is rich with resources, talent and energy. And it can overcome any difficulties that have appeared and may yet still appear along the way. It has grown from an organisation with one newspaper to a conglomerate of 17 publications. I have seen its budget grow from LE126 million to LE1,600 million. And it can grow further still. Think radio services, television stations, training programmes. Al-Ahram is here to stay.
