Education Initiative launched THE ADOPTION of the World Economic Forum's Education Initiative by Egypt was announced during the event. The initiative which was launched with the backing of Mrs Suzanne Mubarak and Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif aims to improve schooling by means of the effective use of Information and Communication Technologies. "Investing in our children's education is investing in Egypt's future", said Yousry El-Gamal, Egypt's minister of education. The Education Initiative will focus on pre-university education, higher education, lifelong learning and e-learning industry development. The first phase of the EEI will include 820,000 students in 2,000 schools, and over 300 colleges. Egyptian social entrepreneur PRIME Minister Ahmed Nazif, presented the "Social entrepreneur of the year" award to Laila Iskandar, the managing director of Community and Institutional Development (CID), a communications and development consultancy. Iskandar has helped communities set up sustainable solid waste recycling programmes. Through her work, Iskandar demonstrated that garbage recycling projects in rural and urban areas can create jobs, encourage the start-up of small industries, and generate a cleaner and healthier environment. Other runners-up for the award included Abla El-Badry of the Hope village Society and Maher Boshra of the Better Life Association for comprehensive development. Previous Egyptian winners of the award were Ibrahim and Helmy Abouleish from SEKEM, which was the first company in Egypt to introduce bio-dynamic farming methods. The competition is the brainchild of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, a Geneva-based organisation founded by Klaus and Hilde Schwab. Emaar in Alexandria EMAAR Chairman Mohamed Ali Alabbar, Emaar Misr Vice Chairman Shafik Gabr and Ismail Serageddin, director of Bibliotheca Alexandrina signed a Memorandum of Understanding by virtue of which a waterfront redevelopment project will be set up in Alexandria. The project aims to provide a spectrum of facilities, such as hotels, conference and exhibition facilities and underground parking on "Kouta Land", west of the Alexandria Library. The project's design is expected to be ready in six months but its exact cost has not yet been decided. G8-MENA finance ministers G8-MENA finance ministers met in Sharm El-Sheikh on the fringe of the World Economic Forum. During the meeting, representatives of 32 countries reviewed various issues such as financial sector reform, and making capital available throughout the region in order to strengthen the prospects for growth and prosperity. US Treasury Secretary John Snow speaking at a joint-press conference with Egyptian Finance Minister Youssef Boutros Ghali, said that the G8 is there to be supportive of the reform efforts undertaken by finance ministers in the region. Snow said that Egypt is "seeing genuine progress", and that it is important to maintain that path.
