June. 17th, 2002

  Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak inaugurated Sunday evening the 2002 Reading for All festival at the armed forces' club in the Cairo suburb of Heliopolis.

    Information Minister Safwat Al-Sherif, Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni and a number of intellectuals attended the celebration.

    Egypt's first lady reviewed works by winners in the festival's competition in drawing and literature.

        In a speech, Mrs. Mubarak said she is content over the continuation of the reading for all programme for the 12th consecutive year .

    The programme is deemed to be an indication that culture has been always a basic option while addressing ongoing trends of national action to create new generations capable of coping with the era's developments, Mrs. Mubarak said.

        Culture is a means of realizing progress and development, she added.

    She said the first steps in this giant project began after recognizing that the child culture would be the base for future.

    Hundreds of libraries were opened in schools and youth and media centers, she added. Also, the idea of mobile libraries has facilitated the presence of libraries in several Egyptian villages, she said.

        Mrs. Mubarak said Egyptian Council for Children Books was established to cope with international developments in the field of children's literature.

    Several international fora and seminars were held as part of the council's activities, she added.

    Mrs. Mubarak cited the campaign entitled "Read for Your Child" which was launched last year and continues powerfully for the second year after introducing modifications to it.

    She said the campaign this year address children, youth and the whole family members.

    She also recalled a number of cultural projects topped by the revival for Alexandria Library.

    After her speech Mrs. Mubarak granted prizes for the children and youths who won the competition section for arts.

    She also inspected the exhibition of family library and later attended a musical ceremony.