The secretary-general of Egypt's House of Representatives Ahmed Saadeddin told reporters on Sunday that the parliament's speaker Ali Abdel-Al will hold a meeting with the board of the Journalists Syndicate on Monday. The meeting will be the second since Abdel-Al was elected speaker of Egypt's parliament on 10 January. Saaeddin told reporters that issues related to new press and media laws would be discussed in the meeting. "Abdel-Al is keen to regularly hold meetings with journalists to discuss their problems and to see how the new constitution's articles on the press and media can be translated into laws," Saaeddin said. A delegation led by the chairman of Egypt's Journalists Syndicate Yehia Qalash met with Abdel-Al last month to discuss new press laws and find solutions for problems facing reporters covering parliamentary news. Gamal Abdel-Rehim, the secretary-general of the syndicate, disclosed this week that the syndicate has been in regular contact with the house's secretary-general to make sure that parliamentary reporters can freely conduct their work. Abdel-Reheim indicated that elections for the Syndicate's Division of Parliamentary Reporters would be held on 9 April. "Reporters would elect a new chairman, deputy and a secretary general to run the affairs of this division," said Abdel-Reheim. The Journalists Syndicate's meeting with Abdel-Al comes amid a lot of controversy over the new press and media laws. Qalash told Al-Ahram newspaper on Sunday that he has informed Prime Minister Sherif Ismail that the unified law regulating the press and media affairs has been finalised. "We have reached an agreement with the government (the Ministry of Justice) on the articles of this law, but we still have fears that the government might be preparing a different draft," Qalash explained. Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Magdi Al-Agati told reporters on Sunday that the new press and media law has already been finalised. "The draft should be submitted to parliament very soon by Justice Minister Ahmed Al-Zind, hoping it will win the satisfaction of the Journalists Syndicate and meet the needs of Egypt's national security at the same time," Al-Agati said. source: Ahram Online
