From the Square to the Bureau Symposium

Covered by: Esraa Ibrahim        -             Revised by: Sarah Nasr Eldeen

On Tuesday, February 18/2020, the Center for Economic and Financial Research and Studies at the Faculty of Economics and Political Science held a symposium
to present and discuss the book "From the Square to the Bureau". Whereas, this symposium was under the patronage of Prof. Dr. Mahmoud Al-Saied - Dean of
the Faculty - as a discussion of the book of Professor of Economics and former Minister of Supply Prof. Dr. Goda Abdel-Khaleq, titled "From the Square to the Bureau".
 Prof. Dr. Adela Rajab, the Professor of Economics and Director of the Center, managed the symposium and presented it and Dr. Heba Nassar, Professor of Economics and
 Vice President of Cairo University for Community Service and Environmental Development, was the commentator. Numerous professors, students, researchers, and
journalists were attended. The symposium was opened by Professor Adela Rajab, with presenting Professor Dr. Mahmoud Al-Saeed, who in turn welcomed
 Prof. Dr. Goda Abdel-Khaliq, Prof. Dr. Heba Nassar, and the audiences.

At the beginning, Prof. Dr. Goda mentioned that he loves creative writing, because it is smoother than others. He emphasized that what he mentioned in
this book is what he thinks of the truth and that he did not cancel a word except that he wiped the names of thieves of the public money as a response to a request
from the publisher in order not to be subject to legal question. He added that the speech was dedicated to the martyrs of January 25.

Then, he briefly explained excerpts from the notes (the book) and began separating them. He started with "From Al-sayeda to Sayyidina al-Hussein" chapter where
 he stated that he was inspired by Abdul-Muttalib’s song as he used to move daily from the Ministry of Affairs in El-Agouza to the Ministry of Supply in Al-Qasr el-Eani
 when he was a minister. He also mentioned that Al-sayeda was a safe place for him; because Al-sayeda was far away from Tahrir Square.

After that, he turned to a section called "The Ministerial Department and the Killing Bureaucracy” because it worked to concentrate power in the minister’s hand alone,
 and this is one of the reasons of the government failure because of the waste of time and effort. Then he talked about a part of the book titled "Esese Collecting the Remains
of Osiris", where he referred to the Ministry of Supply as Osiris, and pointed that he was Esese, who has come to collect the parts of the ministry. He referred that some
 of the thieves are wheat merchants as they were importing wheat from Kazakhstan with profits up to usury, but he tried to turn the wheat market in Egypt into a buyers'
market.

Additionally, Prof. Dr. Goda talked about the crisis of Upper Egypt's mills, the sugar cane crisis, the wheat crisis, and the reform of the loaf system. He said that the
first step to resolve a crisis is to know the time horizon of it. Every crisis is a time bomb that will explode after minutes or days, so this time and knowledge of the crisis must
 be studied carefully. It is also possible to communicate with public opinion but calmly, so as not to riot. He narrated how he had dealt with the chaos of the butane market and
 the sugar cane crisis. He concluded his speech with his humanitarian stances in the ministry, where he showed a picture with an Egyptian farmer and stated that he was affected
 by her Egyptian features and meanings in her face.

The word was passed on to Prof. Dr. Heba Nassar, and she started it with a word of praise on Dr. Goda, and mentioned his exploits and knowledge, and after that she
 directed him some questions and criticisms about the book. Then, he received questions from the attendees, and he, in turn, answered Dr. Heba's questions and those of
the attendees. At the end of the event, Dr. Adela highlighted this was interesting discussion and concluded it with thanks to the distinguished professors and all who
attended this amazing discussion.