By Madame Sosostris � His Royal Highness Prince Andrew, The Duke of York, the second son of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, paid a visit to Egypt from 28 till 30 November in his capacity as the United Kingdom's Special Representative for International Trade and Investment. During the visit, Prince Andrew met senior Egyptian government and business figures to discuss the development of trade and investment links between Egypt and the UK. On Tuesday 29 November, His Royal Highness visited 6 October City in Cairo for the official opening of the new offices of telecoms operator Vodafone Egypt, a highly successful British-Egyptian joint venture. He also attended a lunch in his honour at the hi-tech IT park Smart Village where he discussed ongoing bilateral trade development initiatives with Tareq Kamel, minister of communications and IT. Kamel will lead a UK government- sponsored mission of 20 Egyptian CIT companies to the UK early next year. Although primarily a trade visit, His Royal Highness also visited a British Council-supported youth sports festival at Gezira Club accompanied by Minister of Youth Mamdouh El-Beltagui. The event aims to develop the leadership skills of young people through sport. Yesterday, His Royal Highness and Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif addressed the annual Egypt Invest event, a business- focussed forum highlighting investment opportunities in Egypt, at the Cairo Movenpick Hotel. � Last week, my diligent friend Italian Ambassador to Egypt Antonio Badini held a luncheon for the members of the Egyptian Writers Union (EWU) and representatives of several Arab Writers unions. The event, held at the residence of the ambassador, was organised to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the founding of the EWU. Among the attendees were Eric Schmitt, famous French novelist and author of M Ibrahim et Le Fleurs du Coran ; Al-Ahram Hebdo editor-in-chief and head of the EWU Mohamed Salmawi as well as a galaxy of Arab writers and translators. � Ravishing actress Hanan Tork held a dinner party at the Four Seasons Nile Plaza Hotel on the occasion of the launching of the first issue of the children's magazine Lou'lou' (Pearls) as its chair of the board. The event was attended by ART satellite channel star Safaa Abul-Soud ; film producer Mohamed Ramzi ; mogul businessman Ahmed Bahgat ; writer Yaqoub El-Sharouni and director Hisham Youssef. � Celebrating the 51th anniversary of Algeria's Independence Day, Algerian Ambassador to Egypt Abdul-Qader Haggar held a very warm reception party at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. A galaxy of Arab ambassadors including Moroccan Ambassador Mohamed Farag El-Doqali ; Tunisian Ambassador El-Shazli El-Nafati ; his Palestinian counterpart Monzer El-Dagani ; Ambassador of Oman Abdul-Aziz El-Hanaai ; Egyptian belly dancer Fifi Abdu as well as gifted Algerian poetess Habiba Mohamadi were also present. Under the auspices of Mrs Suzanne Mubarak and Culture Minister Farouk Hosni, head of the General Organisation for Cultural Palaces Ahmed Nawwar organised a festival celebrating Child's Day entitled "Message for Love and Peace from Egyptian children to the World". My dynamic colleague Ghada Abd El-Kader was lucky to attend the carnival. The Egyptian children sent a message all over the world expressing their dreams and hopes for better future and condemned terrorism. There was an overwhelming response from schools; more than 60 children participated in the carnival. The show started on Thursday at 11am. The children departed from the General Organisation for Cultural Palaces passing by Al-Qasr Al-Aini Street and stopping at Tahrir Square where they presented a show for 30 minutes. They then moved to the grounds of Abdine Palace. � Last week was the opening ceremony of the 14th Damascus International Film Festival. The festival honoured late world renowned Syrian film director Mustafa El-Aqad, who was killed in Amman's terrorist bombing. The award was given in appreciation of his great contribution to international cinema. Among those who were awarded was great actor Mahmoud Yassin ; director Said Marzouq ; charming actresses Nabila Ebeid ; Pussie and French actress Corinne Clery. The honouring ceremony was concluded by granting Syria's Order of Merit of Excellence to the name of El-Aqad, which was handed by Syrian culture minister to his brother. � Last week the children's movie The Rebellion of the Canes, produced by UNICEF and directed by British director Oliver Wilkins in cooperation with the Egyptian Family Channel, won an International Children's Day of Broadcasting (ICDB) award at the 33rd International Emmy Awards Gala in New York City. This prize is awarded every year by the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and UNICEF. UNICEF goodwill ambassadors Danny Glover from the United States and Nawal Al-Moutawakil from Morocco presented the award to the head of the Egyptian TV's Family Channel Rawya Rashed and director Wilkins at a special ceremony held at the New York Hilton Hotel. The award goes to the broadcaster whose programming gives children opportunity to speak up and be heard. The ICDB gives children and young people the chance to make television and radio programmes about issues that directly concern them. UNICEF recommended The Rebellions of the Canes to represent the Middle East at the International Day for Children competing with other films from China, Brazil, Bangladesh, Denmark, Ethiopia, among others. A galaxy of stars attended the party such as US Senator and former US First Lady Hilary Clinton and renowned show host Oprah Winfry who were also honoured. � How exciting, my dears. Veteran Egyptian novelist Gamal El-Ghitani has won one of the world's most prestigious literature prizes for his novel Revelation. The French award was bestowed jointly on El-Ghitani and translator Khaled Othman, who translated the novel into French. This is the first time the prize is given to an Arab novelist. Nominations for the prize were made for more than 800 novels translated into French from all over the world. � Last Thursday, the heartthrob Egyptian singer Ihab Tawfiq performed a musical concert to mark the opening of Teatro restaurant in Al-Dana Mall, Manama, Bahrain. Residents of the nearby Sanabis village staged a demonstration against the performance. The "Islamist demonstration" condemned organising musical concerts believing it corrupted peoples' morals. The protesters tried to prevent the audience from attending the performance. Tawfiq defied the protesters and sang his most recent songs until daybreak. � The Inner Wheel Cairo West Club, presided over by Faiza Farid along with Al-Nour Wal-Amal Association, organised a dazzling fashion show by renowned Italian designer Renato Balestra, who presented her latest creation of 60 gowns for haute couture at the Nile Hilton Hotel. With its revenues dedicated to a charity project in Saft Al-Laban district, the show was attended by around 1,000 state officials, ministers and ambassadors including actress and Goodwill Ambassador Safiya El-Emari ; Dean of the Faculty of Medicine Madiha Khattab ; Al-Ahram writer Mona Ragab and tourism expert Onsi Barakat.
