“On September 18th, 2006, the Canada Egypt Business Council held its monthly event at the Nile Hilton Hotel; the theme of the event was ‘Industry: Egypt’s vision for the future’. CEBC was extremely honored to have at this event keynote speaker His Excellency Mohamed Rachid Mohamed, Minister of Trade and Industry. The event was attended by a swarm of high profile persons from the business community as well as the ambassadors of both Canada and Switzerland. Following lunch CEBC President Motaz Raslan began by extending a warm welcome to all the attendees and expressed what a great privilege it was to have in attendance His Excellency Mohamed Rachid Mohamed. His Excellency Rachid Mohamed Rachid opened his comments by thanking Motaz Raslan and CEBC for their efforts to enhance trade, commenting on the success of the recent trade mission. He then moved on to give guests an overview of the government’s strategy to encourage industry and appealed to business community to enhance productivity. The floor was then opened to questions providing an opportunity for attendees to address the minister directly on a range of issues from transportation infrastructure, to China and consumer protection against the spiraling cost of commodities. “