Ahmed
Issa, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, received Leslie Reed, Director of
the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission in Egypt
and her accompanying delegation, to discuss ways of cooperation in the fields
of tourism and antiquities.
The
Minister praised the efforts made by the Agency in cooperation with Egypt in
many development projects in the field of tourism, preserving antiquities and
heritage, and enhancing and raising the efficiency of Tourist and
archaeological sites.
During
the meeting, the minister also spoke about the national strategy for tourism
development in Egypt, pointing out that the ministry aims through this strategy
to achieve an increase in the number of incoming tourism to Egypt at growth
rates ranging between 25% and 30% annually.
For her
part, Reid reviewed the agency’s activities during the coming period in the
field of tourism and antiquities, expressing her appreciation for the
development efforts of the Egyptian government, praising the role played by the
Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities to enhance and raise the efficiency of
tourist and archaeological sites and the surrounding communities.
During
the meeting, the ongoing projects between USAID and Egypt in the field of
tourism and antiquities were discussed, including sustainable development in
the tourism sector, organization of a number of workshops in eight
archaeological sites in historic Cairo and Luxor was discussed, with the aim of
raising the efficiency of the areas surrounding these archaeological sites.
The
meeting also touched on the agreement on the climate change initiative, which
was signed recently, and aims to improve national capabilities to mitigate the
economic and environmental impacts of climate change in the areas of tourism
and heritage preservation by preserving the biological diversity of coral reefs
in the Red Sea and using early warning systems on coastal tourism destinations.
It
should be noted that since the 1990s, the United States Agency for
International Development has provided about $100m to preserve, restore and
protect cultural heritage sites throughout Egypt, including projects to lower
the groundwater level in the areas of Abul al-Hol in Giza, Kom Ombo and Edfu in
Aswan, and Kom al-Shuqafa in Alexandria, and the Esna development project, and
other projects for developing and raising the efficiency of services in tourist
and archaeological sites, to support cultural tourism in historic Cairo and
Luxor in light of the distinguished tourism potentials that these sites enjoy
that make them important stations on the cultural tourism map.
Source: Daily
News
