Power to the people "INVESTMENT for Competitive Localisation for Electric Power Projects Components" is the title of a seminar scheduled to be held on 6 May by the Ministry of Electricity and Energy in cooperation with the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI). The seminar aims at promoting advanced industrial know-how, state-of-the-art technology transfer, the localisation of power projects components and delivering high value to consumers. In the one-day seminar, Hassan Younis, minister of electricity and energy, will present the ministry's plans for expanding power generation, transmission and distribution projects until 2022, while Mohamed El-Ghamrawy, chairman of GAFI, will speak on the investment environment and opportunities in Egypt. The seminar, to be held under the auspices of Prime Minister Atef Ebeid, is expected to be attended by a large number of businessmen interested in manufacturing components for the power projects. One long cable TELECOM Egypt has signed onto the agreement for the extension of the fourth phase of the Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Western Europe (SMW4) Marine Cable. The cable runs from Singapore to France, a distance of 20,000km. Sixteen international telecommunication companies representing 14 countries are signatories to the agreement. This project aims at supporting the communication industry, television and Internet services and meeting the growing needs of a wide range of high-speed communication technology. Azza Torky, Telecom Egypt vice chairman, explained that the local segment of the cable will run from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in the east, crossing the Red Sea to Suez on the Egyptian eastern coast. Then it will be converted to the company's fixed terminal in Cairo through two different routes, as a backup to avoid any service cut off in case of urgent failure. Similarly two different routes will be extended from Cairo to Alexandria to guarantee consistent service. These will then connect to the marine cable crossing the Mediterranean Sea from Alexandria to Italy. Egypt is the crossing point for the largest marine cables connecting Asia and Africa with Europe. Nepal joins WTO THE KINGDOM of Nepal became the 147th member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) last Friday. Nepal started its accession negotiations in 1989. The fifth WTO Ministerial Conference, at Canc�n, Mexico, approved the accession package in September 2003. In March, the government of the Kingdom of Nepal notified the WTO that the process of ratification and acceptance of the Protocol of Accession had been completed in parliament. The protocol enters into force after one month. Currently 24 other countries are in the process of negotiation to join the WTO, including Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Lebanon and Yemen.
