New ministers arrive at Presidential Palace to take oath

CAIRO – 22 December 2019: Sources within the Parliament said Sunday that the new ministers chosen within an expected cabinet reshuffle have arrived at the Presidential Palace to take their oaths before President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.

The reshuffle was finalized during the plenary session held today.

Head of the Culture and Antiquities Committee of the House of Representatives Osama Heikal was chosen as the new Minister of Information, Nevine Gamea, chief executive officer of the Micro, Small & Medium Enterprise Development Agency (MSME), might be declared the new minister of industry, while Tourism Minister Rania Al-Mashat might be assigned the Ministry of Investment.

The reshuffle might include ministries of solidarity, agriculture, industry, justice, tourism, and investment.

A special session took place at 9:00 am local time (GMT+2) at the office of Ali Abdel-Al, speaker of the House of Representatives, to finalize all final arrangements before submitting the ministerial amendment to the parliament session.

According to Article (147) of the Egyptian constitution, the President of the Republic may conduct a cabinet reshuffle after consultation with the Prime Minister and approval of the House of Representatives by an absolute majority of the members present, which must not be less than one-third of its members.