The United States Embassy in Cairo and the Assiut Chamber of Commerce co-hosted the second Economic and Trade Financing Road Show, designed to foster trade and finance opportunities for the chamber's small and medium enterprises. This is the second conference held as part of a series of conferences designed to explain support methods that the US can offer to help develop businesses throughout Egypt. Among the attendees were businessmen from Assiut who addressed inquiries to the embassy's officials. The embassy's Economic Counsellor Ian Campbell and other officials explained how certain programs can help support Egyptian businesses, such as Foreign Commercial Service, the Foreign Agricultural Service, the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the US Export Import Bank and many others. “Through this commitment, and in cooperation with our local partners, we are engaged in Assiut in a number of areas," a press release stated. The release detailed programs the embassy is engaged in with the Assiut governorate, including a USAID mission providing support for early grade reading at local elementary schools. The two parties are also working with medical professionals to promote healthy behaviour and to strengthen the professional skills of Assiut University students to meet the demands of the job market through training and loans. “We have also established an American Window at the Central Library at Assiut University, for which over 1,000 titles in history, literature, culture and society, government and politics, law and legislation and English teaching, in addition to computers, were donated in November 2010," the statement read. Since 2006, the US government has awarded microscholarships to thousands of students in Assiut and throughout Egypt to study English, US culture, and community service. The embassy and the Assiut Chamber of Commerce have also partnered with the Human Rights Association for Community Development in Assiut to work on a project that will enable citizens to participate in political and developmental decision-making processes at the local level. In addition, they both joined efforts with the Young Businessmen Association of Assiut to kick-start a project to “create a transparent and accountable business environment in Upper Egypt". The series of conferences began in Alexandria in March. “This initiative is just one part of a broad commitment to Egypt by the American people" the release stated.
