Egypt's tourism minister leaves for Rome to attend OECD tourism committee talks

Egypt State Information Service

Minister of Tourism Zoheir Garana, left Cairo Wednesday8/10/2008 for Rome to represent Egypt in the tourism committee meetings of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), to open on Thursday and run for three days.

Egypt is going to have an observer seat at the meetings for the first time in appreciation of its standing on the world tourism map and its ambitious plans for sustainable tourism, which are also designed to attract large numbers of tourists and higher earnings, said Garana in pre-departure statements.

Egypt's interest in sustainable tourism comes within the framework of protecting the environment, which has attracted OECD member states to invite it to attend the meetings making it the first state to receive that honor from the Middle East and North Africa region, he said. Garana will address the meetings' inaugural session on facilities and investments offered by Egypt to encourage its investment industry.

OECD brings together the governments of countries committed to democracy and the market economy from around the world to support sustainable economic growth, boost employment, raise living standards, maintain financial stability, assist other countries' economic development and contribute to growth in world trade.

The 30-member OECD also shares expertise and exchanges views with more than 100 other countries and economies, from Brazil, China, and Russia to the least developed countries in Africa.

OECD uses its wealth of information on a broad range of topics to help governments' foster prosperity and fight poverty through economic growth and financial stability. We help ensure the environmental implications of economic and social development are taken into account.

The 30 member countries of OECD are: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.