|
Egypt News |
|
|
|
Soon |
Customers Trips Reviews |
|
|
Egypt Guide
Officially the Arab Republic of
Egypt is a country mainly in North
Africa, with the
Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest
Asia. Thereby,
Egypt is a transcontinental country, and is
considered to be a major power in North Africa, Mediterranean
Region, and African continent, Nile Basin, Islamic World and the Red
Sea. Covering an area of about 1,010,000 square kilometers (390,000
sq mi),
Egypt is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the
Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east,
Sudan to the south and Libya to the west.
Egypt is one of the most populous countries in Africa and the Middle
East. The great majority of its estimated 78.7 million live near the
banks of the Nile River, in an area of about 40,000 square
kilometers (15,000 sq mi), where the only arable agricultural land
is found. The large areas of the Sahara Desert are sparsely
inhabited. About half of
Egypt's residents live in urban areas, with
most spread across the densely populated centers of greater
Cairo,
Alexandria and other major cities in the Nile Delta.
Egypt is famous for its ancient civilization and some of the world's
most famous monuments, including the Giza pyramid complex and its
Great Sphinx. Its ancient ruins, such as those of Memphis, Thebes, Karnak and the Valley of the Kings, are a significant focus of
archaeological study, and artifacts from these sites are now
displayed in major museums around the world.
Egypt is widely
regarded as an important political and cultural nation of the Middle
East.
Egypt possesses one of the most developed and diversified economies
in the Middle East, with sectors such as tourism, agriculture,
industry and service at almost equal rates in national production.
Consequently, the Egyptian economy is rapidly developing, due in
part to legislation aimed at luring investments, coupled with both
internal and political stability, along with recent trade and market
liberalization.
History of Egypt
Governance
Egypt has been a republic since 18 June 1953. President Mohamed
Hosni Mubarak has been the President of the Republic since 14
October 1981, after the assassination of President Mohammed Anwar
El-Sadat. Mubarak is currently serving his fifth term in office (28
years). He is the leader of the ruling National Democratic Party.
Prime Minister Dr. Ahmed Nazif was sworn in as Prime Minister on 9
July 2004, following the resignation of Dr. Atef Ebeid from his
office.
Although power is ostensibly organized under a multi-party
semi-presidential system, whereby the executive power is
theoretically divided between the President and the Prime Minister,
in practice it rests almost solely with the President who
traditionally has been elected in single-candidate elections for
more than fifty years.
Egypt also holds regular multi-party
parliamentary elections. The last presidential election, in which
Mubarak won a fifth consecutive term, was held in September 2005.
In late February 2005, President Mubarak announced in a surprise
television broadcast that he had ordered the reform of the country's
presidential election law, paving the way for multi-candidate polls
in the upcoming presidential election. For the first time since the
1952 movement, the Egyptian people had an apparent chance to elect a
leader from a list of various candidates. The President said his
initiative came "out of my full conviction of the need to
consolidate efforts for more freedom and democracy." However, the
new law placed draconian restrictions on the filing for presidential
candidacies, designed to prevent well-known candidates such as Ayman
Nour from standing against Mubarak, and paved the road for his easy
re-election victory.
Economy
Egypt's economy depends mainly on agriculture, media, petroleum
exports, and tourism; there are also more than three million
Egyptians working abroad, mainly in Saudi Arabia, the Persian Gulf
and Europe. The completion of the
Aswan High Dam in 1970 and the
resultant Lake Nasser have altered the time-honored place of the
Nile River in the agriculture and ecology of
Egypt. A rapidly
growing population, limited arable land, and dependence on the Nile
all continue to overtax resources and stress the economy.
The government has struggled to prepare the economy for the new
millennium through economic reform and massive investments in
communications and physical infrastructure.
Egypt has received U.S.
foreign aid (since 1979, an average of $2.2 billion per year) and is
the third-largest recipient of such funds from the United States
after the Iraq war. Its main revenues however come from tourism as
well as traffic that goes through the Suez Canal.
Egypt has a developed energy market based on coal, oil, natural gas,
and hydro power. Substantial coal deposits are in the north-east
Sinai, and are mined at the rate of about 600,000 metric tons
(590,000 LT; 660,000 ST) per year. Oil and gas are produced in the
western desert regions, the Gulf of Suez, and the Nile Delta.
Egypt
has huge reserves of gas, estimated at 1,940 cubic kilometers, and
LNG is exported to many countries.
Economic conditions have started to improve considerably after a
period of stagnation from the adoption of more liberal economic
policies by the Government, as well as increased revenues from
tourism and a booming stock market. In its annual report, the IMF
has rated
Egypt as one of the top countries in the world undertaking
economic reforms. Some major economic reforms taken by the new
Government since 2003 include a dramatic slashing of customs and
tariffs. A new taxation law implemented in 2005 decreased corporate
taxes from 40% to the current 20%, resulting in a stated 100%
increase in tax revenue by the year 2006.
FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) into
Egypt has increased
considerably in the past few years due to the recent economic
liberalization measures taken by minister of investment Mahmoud
Mohieddin, exceeding $6 billion in 2006.
Although one of the main obstacles still facing the Egyptian economy
is the trickle down of the wealth to the average population, many
Egyptians criticize their Government for higher prices of basic
goods while their standards of living or purchasing power remains
relatively stagnant. Often corruption is blamed by Egyptians as the
main impediment to feeling the benefits of the newly attained
wealth. The Government promises major reconstruction of the
country's infrastructure, with a large part of the sum paid for the
newly acquired third mobile license ($3 billion) by Etisalat.
The best known examples of Egyptian companies that have expanded
regionally and globally are the Orascom Group and Raya. The IT
sector has expanded rapidly in the past few years, with many new
start-ups conducting outsourcing business to North America and
Europe, operating with companies such as Microsoft, Oracle and other
major corporations, as well as many SME's. Some of these companies
are the Xceed Contact Center, Raya Contact Center, E Group
Connections and C3 along with other start ups in that country. The
sector has been stimulated by new Egyptian entrepreneurs trying to
capitalize on their country's huge potential in the sector, as well
as constant Government encouragement.
Media
Egyptian media are highly influential both in
Egypt and the Arab
World, attributed to large audiences and increasing freedom from
government control. Freedom of the media is guaranteed in the
constitution; however, many laws still restrict this right. After
the Egyptian presidential election of 2005, Ahmed Selim, office
director for Information Minister Anas al-Fiqi, declared an era of a
"free, transparent and independent Egyptian media.
Today, the Egyptian media is experiencing more freedom that wasn't
available in the near past. Several Egyptian Talk shows, like (90
Minutes) and (Al- Ashera Masa'an), which air on private channels,
and even the state television programs such as (El-beit beitak) are
criticizing the Government; this was banned before because the
Government was controlling all television programs, but now the
public is feeling the freedom that the Government allowed for media.
Religion..
|
