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Education plan

PRESIDENT Hosni Mubarak has voiced renewed commitment to support education reforms in Egypt. On Sunday, while commemorating Education Day in Egypt, Mubarak said, "It is no longer a luxury for Egypt to pursue education reforms. It has become mandatory."

Mubarak said he instructed the government to look into the necessary measures and required budget to initiate a massive education reform programme that would include the enhancement of the quality of education as well as the quality of training and salaries of teachers.

The statement was widely welcomed by the political majority and opposition alike. The need to reform education in Egypt and to upgrade the quality of university graduates is a point of national consensus.

Call from Tehran

IRANIAN President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called President Hosni Mubarak this week, Cairo officials announced. The call, they said, provided an opportunity for an overview discussion between the two heads of state on regional developments.

Developments in Lebanon and the occupied Palestinian territories, as well as the situation in Iraq, usually offer a substantive agenda for discussion between Egyptian and Iranian officials.

Egyptian diplomats warned against "reading too much" into the call or the Egyptian announcement of it. They add that the issue of the resumption of diplomatic relations between Cairo and Tehran, severed by Iran 30 years ago following the establishment of the Islamic republic, requires much more than a mere phone call -- even at the presidential level.

However, the same diplomats admit that the call and previous meetings that convened in Cairo and Tehran respectively over the past few months indicate "a certain level of sustained openness" in the relationship.

New Somalia

EGYPT this week voiced support for the establishment of a new government in Somalia. A press release issued by the office of the foreign minister "welcomed the formation of a new government in Somalia with Nour Hassan Hussein as the prime minister." The press release also welcomed the vote of confidence that the new government received from the Somali parliament. "This vote of confidence is an important and crucial building block on the road to establishing national unity in Somalia through a political process" that government and parliament should endorse jointly, the release said.

Egypt has been actively engaged in Somalia reconciliation efforts, along with other Arab and African players. However, all attempts to end the long drama of Somalia's disruption have been unsuccessful.