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