CAIRO - Egyptian lawmakers including a member from the ruling National Democratic Party have called on the Government to ban Egyptian youths from marrying Chinese women after the spread of such inexpensive marriages in this Arab country of 80 million people. "We urge the Government to issue a law banning Egyptian youths marriage to Chinese or other foreign women in this way that is similar to the delivery of food and other products," said MP Giorgette Qellini, one of the lawmakers who submitted a parliamentary request to Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif to act against this phenomenon. "The Public Notary should also be ordered to stop registering such marriages until after a law governing the whole process is enacted," Qellini told the Egyptian Mail in an interview. According to her and other lawmakers, this marriage could be a backdoor for the Chinese or foreign women to get a legal residence permit in Egypt and for the Egyptians to get money from them. The Chinese are increasing in Egypt where they are mostly engaged in selling cheap, low-quality products. "We are not against the sale of Chinese products. However, this should be pursued through legal ways," she said. The Egyptian youths deal with some agents through the Internet to select a Chinese would-be wife who sends a photocopy of her passport and the couple register the marriage in local public notaries, say insiders. "This kind of business marriage could turn into real marriage. It could jeopardise the Egyptian social life," MP Qellini argued. Independent MP Gamal Zahran, meanwhile, stressed that this marriage should be banned by a presidential decree in accordance with the Egyptian Constitution. "The President has the constitutional power to ban anything threatening the social life of Egyptians," said Zahran, a professor of political science. He added that the registrars should also be obliged not to register marriages between Egyptian and Chinese girls. According to a 2008 study by the Brookings Research Institute in Washington DC, marriage costs in Egypt have reached an all-time high. The average cost is estimated to be the equivalent of 43 months' worth of the groom and his father's salary.
