Ramadan, my dears, is such a vibrant time, full of social gatherings and celebrations. This year the Special Olympics International (SOI)'s Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Office organised its annual iftar at the Cairo Capital Club in Garden City. In a spirit reflective of the month, the event was most engaging. Minister of Youth Anas El-Fiqi and his beautiful wife were the guests of honour at the iftar that gathered the MENA's Regional Managing Director Ayman Abdel-Wahab and his lovely wife Ghada. Also there was spokeswoman of Special Olympics athletes, Dina Galal, who has just arrived from the United States after an intensive training course. During the iftar, she announced that she will represent the region in another course in Japan in February 2005, on the sidelines of the Winter Special Olympics World Games. During the meal, and the hours of nibbling and chat that followed, El-Fiqi praised the latest achievements of the special Olympians. The evening, like the special Olympians themselves, was a sparkling iftar affair. We like to joke that the month of Ramadan is one during which the primary focus of people is food. A little dose of that reality was reflected by the Egyptian Chef's Association (ECA), which made its presence felt at the 24th International Hotel Supplies and Catering Equipment exhibition (HACE'40), which was inaugurated this month. At the event, the National Chefs Team of Egypt showed off their Olympic culinary display, which they will take to Germany for the IKA/Culinary Olympics event later this month. The official opening was attended by First Under- Secretary for Hotels representing the Ministry of Tourism Mohamed Shoukri Gawish, Vice-President of the Egyptian Federation of Tourism Chambers and Chairman of the ECA Ahmed El- Nahhas as well as Yousri Abul-Naga, Khaled Hegazi and Alaa Mohieddin representing the Egyptian Group for Marketing, organisers of the HACE exhibition. Excitement was in the air as chefs gathered at the ECA booth to compete for medal awards and cash prizes. My dears, it was food, food, food galore! photos: Ayman Barayez It is high time we propel bi-lateral cultural relations, and so it comes as wonderful news that the Director of the Cairo Opera House Abdel-Moneim Kamel signed an agreement of cultural and artistic cooperation with the prestigious Piccolo Theatre of Milan. Kamel said that there will be a cultural exchange between the opera house and the stars of Piccolo Theatre troupe, who will present Wolfgang Mozart 's great opera Cosi Fan Tutte in December at both the Sayed Darwish Theatre in Alexandria, and for two days at the Cairo Opera House Main Hall. Accompanied by the Cairo Symphony Orchestra, to be conducted by Arnold Bosman, the opera will feature world-renowned soloists such as Eugenia Braynova, Teresa Cullen and Mark Milhofer. We hope that this is just a taste of more to come. Contrary to popular belief, the hotel business in the country is booming. On the occasion of the soft opening of the Intercontinental Heliopolis Cairo, the hotel recently hosted members of the German Arab Chamber of Industry and Commerce for their monthly meeting. The meeting was followed by a tour of the luxurious hotel with all its outlets, rooms and conference halls in the presence of the General Manager Thomas Hilberath and Peter Göpfrich representing the German Arab Chamber of Industry and Commerce. Members were most impressed, and will be sure to have their guru business guests reside at the hotel during Cairo visits. I was wondering, my dears, why Al-Ahram Weekly office was slightly quieter this past week. And then I found out; one of our most dynamic members of staff was absent. The Weekly 's Political and Economic reporter Gamal Essam El-Din. Essam El-Din was on a two-week visit to Tokyo upon invitation from the Foreign Press Centre of Japan. Along with Kamal Gaballah, head of Al-Ahram's Tokyo office, Essam El-Din was there to attend the 22th anniversary of Japan's Foreign Press Centre. The visit covered tours of major Japanese cities such as Tokyo, Osaka, Hiroshima, Kyoto, Kobe, Aichi and Nagoya, as well as the attendance of lectures about Japanese politics, economy and the booming electronics industry. It was a great opportunity for Essam El-Din to have an in-depth view of this great civilisation and its people, and as well to learn about how Japan managed to survive the dropping of two nuclear bombs on two of its major cities, and still become the world's second economic powerhouse. Ahramist Essam El-Din was particularly happy to find that Al- Ahram is the only Arab and Middle-Eastern press organisation to have an office in Japan. On the occasion of the insignia of the "Official Knight of the order of Merit of the Republic of Italy" by the Italian president upon professor of Egyptology at Ain Shams University Mamdouh El- Damati ; former director of the Graeco-Roman Museum in Alexandria, Ahmed Abdel-Fatah; and head of the Archaeology Department at the Faculty of Arts, Mansoura University, Yehia El- Masri, a celebration took place at the residence of the Italian ambassador to Egypt, hosted by Nicoletta Bombardiere. It was attended by Director of the Italian Archaeological Institute in Cairo Maria Casini and director of the Italian Cultural Centre Adelia Rispoli.
