News

Press room

Giovanni Ortolani
Public Information Officer
Via Beirut, 6
Enrico Fermi Building, Room 112
Office: +39 040 2240-324
gortolani@twas.org

Cristina Serra
Staff writer
Via Beirut, 6
Enrico Fermi Building, Room 113
Phone: +39 040 2240-429
Mobile: +39 338 430-5210
cserra@twas.org

Sean Treacy
Staff Writer
Via Beirut, 6
Enrico Fermi Building, Room T8/2
Office: +39 040 2240-538
streacy@twas.org

General contact: info@twas.org

TWAS Newsletter
The Academy's quarterly magazine. Download PDF files of individual…

El-Beltagy named Egypt agriculture minister

El-Beltagy named Egypt agriculture minister

Long-time TWAS Fellow and Council Member Adel E.T. El-Beltagy has been appointed Egypt's Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation

Agricultural biologist Adel E.T. El-Beltagy, the Arab Region representative on the TWAS Council, has been appointed Egypt's minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation.

The ministry is Egypt’s main governmental arm supporting the livelihood of its rural people. It develops policies for Egypt’s agriculture, animal husbandry, fisheries and land reclamation. It also helps farmers become more efficient and studies the development of food, cash crops, livestock, fish production and industrialization.

El-Beltagy has been a TWAS Fellow since 2005, and has a lengthy, noteworthy career in agricultural research for development. He’s the former director general of the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas, former president of Egypt’s Agricultural Research Center and has been an under-secretary of the ministry he now leads.

He currently leads the International Dryland Development Commission, and serves as president of the governing board of the International Center for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies. He is also a board member of Bibliotheca Alexandrina, a major library and cultural center in Alexandria, Egypt, that hosts the TWAS Arab Regional Office.

TWAS Executive Director Romain Murenzi sent El-Beltagy a letter of congratulations on his new position. “I am with those who believe that Egypt can be the food basket of the region,” Murenzi wrote. And, he added: “South Africa and Egypt count close to 3/4 of all published journal papers in Africa. I believe that Egypt has a role to play in building science and technology in Africa.”

Sean Treacy