Nadia Abdo Saleh became Egypt’s first female governor after she was appointed governor of Beheira on Thursday, a cabinet statement said. Saleh, who has served as deputy governor of Beheira for going on four years, is an engineer by training and replaces Mohamed Ali Sultan, who was reassigned to Alexandria. Sultan, who studied orthopedic surgery, occupied various high-ranking public posts within the health ministry over the last 20 years. President Abdel Fattah El Sisi also appointed new governors in Qalyubiyah, New Valley, and Dakahlia. President Abdel Fattah El Sisi also swore in the nine new ministers announced on Wednesday; Investment and International Cooperation Minister Sahar Nasr was sworn in again after the merger of the investment ministry with her previous post of international cooperation.

Those new ministers were highly vocal over the weekend. In addition to press conferences and interviews, six of the ministers attended one-on-one meetings with Prime Minister Sherif Ismail on Saturday, according to a cabinet statement. Among the highlights:

Investment and International Cooperation Minister Sahar Nasrhas the Investment Act on her mind, she said, and will rung an international campaign to promote foreign investment.

Supply Minister Aly El Moselhy continued to make noise about subsidy reforms, and chatter suggests he might be moving to increase ration card holders’ monthly allowance. El Moselhy said, however, that he was primarily concerned with cleaning up the subsidy system. The House will reportedly be summoning the minister in 10 days’ time to discuss his strategy for the phase-out of subsidies, Al Borsa says.

Agriculture Minister Abdel Moneim Al Banna plans on forming a committee to oversee wheat collection and storage ahead of the April harvest. His long-term priority will be food security and curbing imports.

Transport Minister Hisham Arafat told railway officials he is unhappy about the slow pace of modernization and pledged to continue upgrading public transport nationwide, Al Borsa says.

Higher Education Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar noted that while public education will remain free, he would like to find a way of allowing public universities self-fund upgrades, according to AMAY.
Planning Minister Hala El Said intends to present the House of Representatives with Egypt’s social and economic development strategy for 2017-18 by end of March, she said. Her longer-term focus will be on administrative reforms within the bureaucracy.