Her Excellency Dr Fayza Abu Al-Naja, Minister of International Cooperation in Egypt, will open today Wednesday 20th June 2007, the first Forum of Arab and African Consulting Engineers which will be held in Cairo (Egypt) from 20-21 June 2007. The Forum, organised by the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), will welcome participants from Arab and African countries, including fifty consulting engineers firms, ambassadors based in Cairo, representatives of the Coordination Group of Arab Development Funds and other prominent figures.

H. E. Mr. AHMED ABDALLAH EL-AKEIL Chairman of the Board will speak during the opening ceremony and H. E. Mr. Abdelaziz Khelef, Director General of BADEA will give the closing ceremony speech.

A number of working papers will be presented during the Forum, covering subjects such as the role played by BADEA in Africa's development, its rules and procedures for the procurement of goods and services, or how to instigate the participation of Arab and African consulting engineers in sub-Saharan Africa development projects.

The Forum aims at offering a platform where Arab and African consulting engineers could meet, exchange points of view on the different issues relating to consulting services- including offering joint services - and to open new avenues for Afro-Arab cooperation in the area of consulting services. Last but not least, the Forum is an opportunity for presenting the BADEA: a funding agency dedicated to development in Africa and supporting Afro-Arab cooperation.