Four new ministers sworn in before President Sisi

CAIRO - 14 January 2018: The four newly-appointed ministers were sworn in on Sunday before President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi as part of the cabinet reshuffle.

Egypt's House of Representatives has approved the cabinet reshuffle on Sunday. In a plenary session, the Parliament voted on the reshuffle of the cabinet, which is still presided by Sherif Ismail.

The reshuffle has affected four ministries: Culture, Tourism, Local Development and Public Enterprise.

The Head of Cairo Opera House Inas Abdel-Dayem, was chosen to be the new minister of Culture instead of Helmy el-Namnam. The prestigious international flute player received her masters in flute in honor from the high music school in Paris. She was the former dean of the conservatoire.

The Head of the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) Abu Bakr al-Gendy was appointed as the Minister of Local Development, instead of Mohamed Zein el-Abidin.

Al-Gendy occupied the head of Armed Forces Training Authority; then, he occupied the head of U.S. Relation Department of at the Ministry of Defense. He was also assistant minister of defense.

While for the Ministry of Public Enterprise was assigned to Khaled Mohamed Ali Badawy instead of Ashraf El-Sharkawy. Badawy was the CEO of Al-Ahly Capital Holding. The Ministry of Public Enterprise is in charge of eight holding companies.

Advisor to the Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Rania Al-Mashat has replaced Minister of Tourism Yahia Rashid. In 2015, Mashat was chosen among the top 50 Most Influential Women in the Egyptian Economy. She joined the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) at the age of 30, and a few years later, in 2012, became the youngest subgovernor in CBE’s history.

The ministerial reshuffle comes in pursuance of Article 174 of the constitution that stipulates that the “President shall hold the cabinet reshuffle in consultation with the Prime Minister and with the approval of the House of Representatives by an absolute majority of the attendees of the house and no less than one third of its total members.”

Egypt’s last cabinet reshuffle was in February last year and included new investment and agriculture ministers.