CAIRO: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has ordered the delivery of $4 million worth of medical aid to 30 African countries to help them combat coronavirus, the Cabinet said.
This comes as part of Egypt’s contribution to the African Union COVID-19 Response Fund. The first batch of aid has already reached 10 countries, and procedures for shipping the second batch to 20 other countries are being completed, the Cabinet said.
Assistant Foreign Minister Soha Gendy received a number of ambassadors from recipient countries on Friday evening at Cairo International Airport, as part of arrangements for the aid deliveries.
An EgyptAir plane loaded with medical aid took off at dawn on Saturday. An estimated 1.5 tons will be sent to each country.
Egypt sends aid to 30 African countries
https://arab.news/67y64
Egypt sends aid to 30 African countries
- An EgyptAir plane loaded with medical aid took off at dawn on Saturday
- An estimated 1.5 tons will be sent to each country
Algeria inaugurates strategic railway to giant Sahara mine
- The mine is expected to produce 4 million tons per year during the initial phase, with production projected to triple to 12 million tons per year by 2030
- The project is financed by the Algerian state and partly built by a Chinese consortium
ALGEIRS: Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Sunday inaugurated a nearly 1,000-kilometer (621-mile) desert railway to transport iron ore from a giant mine, a project he called one of the biggest in the country’s history.
The line will bring iron ore from the Gara Djebilet deposit in the south to the city of Bechar located 950 kilometers north, to be taken to a steel production plant near Oran further north.
The project is financed by the Algerian state and partly built by a Chinese consortium.
During the inauguration, Tebboune described it as “one of the largest strategic projects in the history of independent Algeria.”
This project aims to increase Algeria’s iron ore extraction capacity, as the country aspires to become one of Africa’s leading steel producers.
The iron ore deposit is also seen as a key driver of Algeria’s economic diversification as it seeks to reduce its reliance on hydrocarbons, according to experts.
President Tebboune attended an inauguration ceremony in Bechar, welcoming the first passenger train from Tindouf in southern Algeria and sending toward the north a first charge of iron ore, according to footage broadcast on national television.
The mine is expected to produce 4 million tons per year during the initial phase, with production projected to triple to 12 million tons per year by 2030, according to estimates by the state-owned Feraal Group, which manages the site.
It is then expected to reach 50 million tons per year in the long term, it said.
The start of operations at the mine will allow Algeria to drastically reduce its iron ore imports and save $1.2 billion per year, according to Algerian media.
