President Mubarak of Egypt issued a series of decrees today that appointed HE Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak to head the Council of Patrons and the Board of Trustees, and that named a distinguished group of Egyptians and non-Egyptians to the Board of Trustees of the Library complex, a huge cultural complex comprising several institutions, and naming Ismail Serageldin as Director General (DG) of the enterprise on interim basis until the first Board of Trustees meeting exercises its right in selecting and appointing the DG by two thirds of its votes.
It is well known that Ismail Serageldin has been very active in promoting this project in various forums over the last twelve months, and that he has been actively involved in the drafting of the legislation and statutes that are now to govern the functioning of the new Bibliotheca Alexandrina.
Asked what the long term plans were, Serageldin said that he admired the quality of leadership shown by HE Suzanne Mubarak for this project over the years, and that he looked forward to the privilege of working directly and closely with her as chair of the Board of Trustees. He also responded to our queries on his own status by emphasizing how appropriate it was to institutionalize the proper authority of the Board of Trustees by giving it the final choice on the DG, as well as the authority to approve all the internal rules and regulations which will govern the work of the library. He said he hoped that the Board of Trustees would select him for the permanent position, but that this was still an open question.