<h4> Awaal Gata </h4>
Egypt’s former Minister of Foreign Aff airs, Mohammed Elorabi, has expressed confi dence that the African Union (AU)-backed Egyptian candidate to the position of the Director General (DG) of the United Nations Education and Cultural Organisation, UNESCO, Dr Moushira Khattab, stands a chance of clinching the prestigious position. Elorabi told journalists during an interaction in Abuja that he was in Nigeria to solicit the support of the Nigerian government, adding that the African Union (AU) had reached a consensus to off er massive support to Khattab in the October 9 election. “I am delighted to be in Nigeria. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi sent me to President Muhammadu Buhari to deliver a message to keep the momentum and to support our candidate for the position of the DG of UNESCO. “As you know, there is an African Union decision on the Egyptian lady, Dr. Mushira Khattab, she would be the candidate for Africa and according to the decision of the AU all the African countries should support her. “Th ere is a collective eff ort by African ambassadors in many capitals of the world and so far we are gaining a very good ground in order to guarantee that she will be the next Director General of UNESCO. We would try to keep the momentum of the AU and also the consensus, in order to show that Africa has one voice and one candidate,” he said. He also told journalists that Egypt ha extended invitation to President Muhammadu Buhari and Nigerian government to participate in the December 7 investment summit scheduled for Sharm El-Sheik, Egypt. He stressed that the summit is devoted to increasing direct investment, not just in Egypt but in Africa. He described Nigeria as one of the pillars of Africa adding that a lot of Nigerian business tycoons will participate in the summit. “Th e forum is on how to increase the appetite of direct investors to come to Africa. So we will devote sessions to agriculture, to tourism even industry in order to facilitate investments in the whole continent. “We are also inviting the big multinational organizations and many of the investment companies all over the world. “Th is is the vision of President Al- Sisi to awaken the desire of the international community to have investment in Africa,” he added
