Gaber Asfour, Egypt's culture minister, has approved a decision by the board of the Cairo Opera House to host a monthly concert to benefit the Long Live Egypt fund, a bank account established to help the country out of its current economic crisis.

Cairo Opera House chairperson, Ines Abdel-Dayem, said she hopes that the Egyptian and Arab artists who will perform at the concerts will donate their fees to the fund.

The bank account was launched in late June by Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, who has himself donated large sums in a bid to encourage Egyptians at home and abroad to take part in the campaign.

El-Sisi has also called on Egyptians to buy shares to help finance a new Suez Canal mega project that will see the creation of a separate parallel waterway at a cost of $4 billion.

Abdel-Dayem said that the Cairo Opera House will host regular concerts at the construction site by the canal to motivate the workers to finish the project in the one year timeframe that El-Sisi set.