Egypt, Ukraine sign cooperation protocolEgypt and Ukraine signed a cooperation protocol in Kiev Thursday May 22 at the end of the fifth session of the Egyptian-Ukrainian committee. Egypt and Ukraine agreed to boost cooperation in banking, natural gas, oil, higher education and scientific research, sports, agricultural machinery, health and communications, according to the final communiqué of the committee. International Cooperation Minister Fayza Abul-Naga and Ukrainian Minister of Industrial Policy Volodymyr Novytskyy co-chaired the committee meeting. Egypt and Ukraine decided to exert efforts to lower the gap in trade exchange that tilts in favor of Ukraine with exports to Egypt hitting $900 million while Egyptian exports are only $140 million. Ukraine promised to consider offers by Egyptian holding companies to increase their exports to Ukraine in metal and food industries, textile, chemical materials and transport services. Egypt and Ukraine agreed to exchange banking experts to explore new spheres of cooperation and to boost the private sector s role in financing small and medium-scale projects, according to the Egyptian-Ukrainian committee communiqué. The two sides also agreed to develop scientific and technical cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy, it said. The Egyptian side promised to consider Ukraine s request of importing natural gas and starting cooperation projects in wind and solar energy domains. -SIS Nazif reviews preparations for Football World Youth ChampionshipPrime Minister Ahmed Nazif held a ministerial meeting on Thursday May 22 to discuss preparations for the Football World Youth Championship Egypt will host in July 2009. The meeting was attended by the Ministers of Defense, Interior, Petroleum, Economic Development, Parliamentary Councils, Tourism, Information, Communications, Civil Aviation, Military Production And Local Development, in addition to the Chairman of the National Council for Sports and the Chairman of the Arab Contractors Company. The spokesman for the Cabinet, Magdi Radi, said Nazif discussed with the ministers the standards and criteria set by the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) to choose the stadiums and pitches on which the matches and trainings will be staged. -SIS Power tender nears in EgyptThe Egyptian Electricity Holding Company (EEHC) will issue tenders for three new power generation projects over the next 19 months.The first tenders, for the 12MW Assiut barrage power plant, will be issued in late 2008 or early 2009.This will be followed by tenders for a combined cycle plant at Sharm El-Sheikh, which will have capacity of either 350MW or 750MW, in February 2009.Finally, in December 2009 EEHC will issue tenders for a 1,300MW thermal plant at Ain El-Sokhna.The Sharm El-Sheikh plant is part of EEHC s generation expansion plan for 2002-2008. The other two projects fall under the utility s latest masterplan, which will add 46,500MW of generation capacity between 2013-2027 (MEED 11:4:08). -Agencies Spain, Egypt to investigate 19th century shipwreckSpain and Egypt will start a project later this year to investigate the 19th century sinking of a ship that some believe contained the mummy of a Fourth Dynasty pharaoh, news agency MENA said. MENA cited Egyptian Ambassador to Spain Yasser Murad as saying the countries would first hold consultations and compare historical records, and attempt to establish the location of the shipwreck. Khafre, who ruled Egypt more than 2,500 years ago, is known for building the second largest of the three great pyramids at Giza, and may have overseen the creation of the nearby Sphinx. A ship carrying ancient artifacts from Egypt to Britain that sank off the Spanish coast in the first half of the 19th century is believed by some Egyptologists to have contained Khafre s mummy. -Agencies 15 pct increase in gold order in Egypt The Egyptian market performance is a distinguished one at the Arab region level the International gold council asserted in its consumption report during the first quarter of 2008. As the increase in the demands for gold reached to eight tons during this period it is estimated its increase to 15 percent in comparison with last year. This increase in supply upon the Egyptian gold come in spite of the decrease in its demands at the international level in the region, said the executive director to the International gold council Moaz Barakat. This is because of the high price of gold during the first three months of this year, he added. -SIS Egypt, Russia to cooperate in banking sectorGovernor of the Central Bank of Egypt Farouk Oqda and his Russian counterpart Sergey Ignatiev signed an agreement on establishing a working group to cooperate in the banking field. The working group will give suggestions on how to promote cooperation between the two countries in this field. Meetings of the working group will be annual before the meetings of the Egyptian-Russian committee. First meeting will be held the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh. Oqda and Ignatiev also inked a memo of understanding between the two central banks. In statements, the Egyptian official underscored the role to be played by the group. -SIS
