CAIRO: Egypt's Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Affairs Mohamed el-Orabi has been promoted to the country's foreign minister position by the interim cabinet. The move on Sunday comes after the former Foreign Minister Nabil Elaraby was elected to head the Arab League in May after the current Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa announced he would run in the next presidential campaign in Egypt, which is expected to take place this winter. Orabi has been in the foreign service since 1976 after serving in the Egyptian Army. He was deputy ambassador to Israel from 1994 through 1998, and has worked in Kuwait, the United States and Britain. He was Egypt's ambassador to Germany from 2001 to 2008. Orabi is the second foreign minister to be appointed since former President Hosni Mubarak stepped down February 11 after pro-democracy protesters demanded a change in government and reforms, which for the most part have yet to truly come. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces and Prime Minister Essam Sharaf's caretaker cabinet have since been in charge of the country. BM
