Sisi orders top-grade training for mosque imams

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi held a meeting saturday with Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli and a host of cabinet ministers, including Waqfs (Endowments)  Minister Mohamed Mukhtar Gomaa and Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation el-Sayed el-Qusier.

Discussions between the president, on one hand, and the prime minister and the cabinet ministers, on the other, focused on the activities of the ministries of endowments and agriculture as well as on regulating the ownership of farmland between them, Presidency Spokesman Ambassador Bassam Radi said.

He added that Minister Gomaa briefed the president about his ministry’s plans to train mosque imams and teachers at the International Endowments Academy.

The minister also briefed the president about the cultural activities of his ministry, including the translation and publication of books, noting that the ministry supplies book to the libraries of Islamic centres in other countries.

President Sisi directed the minister of endowments to maintain training programmes of mosque imams as well as female preachers, Ambassador Radi said.

He quoted the president as highlighting the importance of honing the communication skills of the imams and the female preachers by helping them engage in postgraduate studies, especially in the fields of psychology and sociology.

The president also discussed plans by of Ministry of Agriculture for horizontal expansion nationwide, especially in central and North Sinai, Toshka, el-Hammam and western Minya, Ambassador Radi said.

He instructed the minister of agriculture to expand the use of modern technologies in agricultural projects.

The president also called for increasing the use of modern irrigation techniques nationwide, within the framework of state efforts to rationalise water consumption.

President Sisi noted that dependence on modern irrigation techniques as part of the state efforts to increase arable land area. He also called for increased coordination between the ministries of irrigation and agriculture to provide irrigation water in addition to upgrading and lining irrigation canals nationwide as well as developing wastewater treatment plants, Ambassador Radi said.