Egypt’s PM continues vetting candidates for cabinet reshuffle

Ahram Online , Saturday 19 Mar 2016

The prime minister is currently looking at the resumes of at least 30 candidates for the portfolios of minister of justice, tourism, finance, investment, education and transport

Sherif Ismail
Egypt's Prime Minister Sherif Ismail (Reuters)

Egypt’s Prime Minister Sherif Ismail continues his search for candidates to take charge of a number of portfolios in a limited cabinet reshuffle before the government presents its programme to parliament by the end of March, sources told Al-Ahram daily on Saturday.

Sources added that the new ministers will most probably be announced Sunday in order to allow them time to be briefed on their ministerial tasks and attend the weekly cabinet meeting Wednesday.

The prime minister is currently studying the resumes of at least 30 candidates for the jobs of minister of justice, tourism, finance, investment, education and transport.

The post of minister of justice became vacant last week after the prime minister sacked Ahmed El-Zend.

Among potential candidates for the post of minister of education is Hossam Badrawi. Badrawi is a physician and a former member of parliament who chaired the Committee of Education and Scientific Research 2000 -2005. He was also the last head of the now-defunct National Democratic Party of ousted president Hosni Mubarak.

The reshuffle might also see current Minister of Planning Ashraf El-Arabi switched to finance minister, replacing Hani Kadry Dimian.

One of the potential candidates for investment minister is Neveen El-Tahri, current chairperson of Delta Shield for Investment and the first woman to sit on the board of the Egyptian Stock Exchange and the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority. El-Tahri was named twice by The Financial Times as one of the leading businesswomen in the Arab world.

A possible candidate to head the tourism ministry is Amr El-Ganiany, the Commercial International Bank's (CIB) president for global customer relations.

El-Ganainy could be replacing the current Minister of Tourism Hisham Zaazou. Zaazou is the longest serving minister in this portfolio since the 2011 uprising, served in the post from 2012 to March 2015 and reappointed in September 2015.

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