CAIRO: The People's Assembly (PA) industry and energy committee has conducted the first of a series of meetings on Wednesday to discuss truck drivers' grievances, the Ministry of Trade and Industry said in a press statement. Possible solutions to the problem were proposed by trailer manufacturers and were discussed during the meeting, such as producing new trailers with upgraded safety measures. Amr Assal, chairman of the Industrial Development Authority, attended the meeting along with representatives from the Ministry of Trade and Industry in the quality control department and technology center for industrial products. The meeting also hosted engineering professors from the universities of Ain Shams and Al-Mataria as well as traffic police officers. The PA meetings are the only official response the drivers' protests have elicited so far. Two weeks ago, truck drivers called on President Mubarak, the PA, the prime minister and all responsible bodies to intervene to prevent the implementation of the recently amended traffic law article banning trailers by January 2011. Truck drivers around Egypt went on strike for four days on Friday Feb. 13, which they vowed to continue until the government cancels the decree. During the PA debate of the traffic law which was approved in June 2008, the two most controversial articles were those dealing with taxi license renewals for cars older than 20 years and large trailers. The amendments banned the use of truck trailers as well as the importing or manufacturing of trailers, with a grace period of two years for their owners to replace them with other cargo transportation means. Trailers account to about 30 percent of road accidents in Egypt.
