Back to the complete issue
Sunday, 25 November 2018

Rumors that Egypt is exporting cats and dogs cause a ruckus on the airwaves

News circulating over the weekend that Egypt is exporting stray cats and dogs caused a ruckus on the airwaves last night. For context: House Rep. Maria Azer had proposed several weeks ago that Egypt should export stray animals to Asian countries where these animals are consumed as food. A spokesman from the Agriculture Ministry’s General Organization for Veterinary Services denied that the ministry’s role in these exports extends beyond issuing health certificates for the animals, according to Youm7.

The latest (unconfirmed) reports suggest that ‘independent exporters’ are indeed exporting the animals, with the debate now being over whether they’re being sold as pets or for food. Please don’t get us started on whether there’s a country out there interested in importing stray animals from us, let alone whether this is a good idea. That way lies madness.

The alleged export of the animals will have a negative impact on Egypt’s image abroad and ultimately pinch the nation’s tourism inflows, Rep. Mona Mounir said. According to Mounir, the government has already begun receiving messages from foreigners seeking to take legal action to end the practice, which she said is unconstitutional. Animal rights activist Mona Khalil, meanwhile, slammed the discrepancy in reports on whether or not the Agriculture Ministry is spearheading the exports (watch, runtime: 17:24).

Masaa DMC’s Eman El Hosary took the time to encourage better treatment of stray and domesticated animals (watch, runtime: 7:48).

Education Minister Tarek Shawki discussed the launch of a new EGP 200 mn education fund (we have the details in Health + Education, below) on Hona Al Asema, where he noted that the CBE and Religious Endowments Ministry have each pledged EGP 100 mn per annum for the fund. The fund was included in the Madbouly Cabinet’s policy program, which Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly presented to the House of Representatives, Shawki said (watch, runtime: 7:06 and runtime: 4:06). Former Financial Regulatory Authority Sherif Samy and journalist Ahmed Al Gamal also phoned in to list the various benefits of the fund (watch, runtime: 56:30).

The one-year anniversary of the El Rawda Mosque attack was on Amr Adib’s mind last night. The El Hekaya host tipped his hat to officials who are currently overseeing the development of the town after the incident (watch, runtime: 10:26).

Speculation that Turkey has bugged several countries’ embassies in Ankara in the wake of the Khashoggi murder also had Adib concerned that Egypt’s embassy is under Turkish surveillance (watch, runtime: 3:25).

Enterprise is a daily publication of Enterprise Ventures LLC, an Egyptian limited liability company (commercial register 83594), and a subsidiary of Inktank Communications. Summaries are intended for guidance only and are provided on an as-is basis; kindly refer to the source article in its original language prior to undertaking any action. Neither Enterprise Ventures nor its staff assume any responsibility or liability for the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, whether in the form of summaries or analysis. © 2022 Enterprise Ventures LLC.

Enterprise is available without charge thanks to the generous support of HSBC Egypt (tax ID: 204-901-715), the leading corporate and retail lender in Egypt; EFG Hermes (tax ID: 200-178-385), the leading financial services corporation in frontier emerging markets; SODIC (tax ID: 212-168-002), a leading Egyptian real estate developer; SomaBay (tax ID: 204-903-300), our Red Sea holiday partner; Infinity (tax ID: 474-939-359), the ultimate way to power cities, industries, and homes directly from nature right here in Egypt; CIRA (tax ID: 200-069-608), the leading providers of K-12 and higher level education in Egypt; Orascom Construction (tax ID: 229-988-806), the leading construction and engineering company building infrastructure in Egypt and abroad; Moharram & Partners (tax ID: 616-112-459), the leading public policy and government affairs partner; Palm Hills Developments (tax ID: 432-737-014), a leading developer of commercial and residential properties; Mashreq (tax ID: 204-898-862), the MENA region’s leading homegrown personal and digital bank; Industrial Development Group (IDG) (tax ID:266-965-253), the leading builder of industrial parks in Egypt; Hassan Allam Properties (tax ID:  553-096-567), one of Egypt’s most prominent and leading builders; and Saleh, Barsoum & Abdel Aziz (tax ID: 220-002-827), the leading audit, tax and accounting firm in Egypt.