The American Concrete Institute (ACI) signed an international partnership agreement with the Egyptian Engineers Syndicate to exchange technical expertise, according to a press release from the institute.
The ACI said that the agreement aims to increase collaboration and cooperation through a mutual exchange of technical expertise.
The institute further noted that it is very interested in working with international partners to increase access to information for the engineering community, professionals, and experts worldwide.
“The Egyptian government is working to update their building code (Egyptian Code of Practice) to ACI 318-14, Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete,” the ACI said in a statement. “Last year, the ACI entered into an agreement with the nearby Gulf Cooperation Council Standardisation Organisation to develop a Gulf Building Code.”
For its part, the Egyptian Engineers Syndicate formed a technical committee to support the partnership with the ACI, which was signed in January in light of the Egyptian delegation’s visit to the World of Concrete (WOC) 2018 exhibition, the most famous exhibition in the field of concrete, which was held from 20-22 January in the US.
A member of a committee formed for the agreement at the Egyptian Engineers Syndicate, Mayer Gerges Malak, said that the agreement targets increasing the transfer of foreign expertise to Egypt and following up on the latest in terms of engineering codes to be implemented in the Egyptian market. In addition, a number of lecturers in America, through the ACI, are to provide courses for qualifying and training students and specialists in the Egyptian Engineers Syndicate.
Malak added that Egyptian engineers and other specialists can buy discounted American codes in light of the agreement.
He explained that the dissemination of the culture of the American code has contributed to positive cooperation with the international companies operating in Egypt, in addition to helping Egyptian engineers work in foreign countries, especially since most of the Arabian Gulf countries adopt the code in their projects.
He pointed out that the private universities in Egypt are studying the American code, unlike public universities, which require qualifying their graduates through multiple courses.
The committee consists of Omaima Ahmed as its chairperson, Tharwat Kamal as rapporteur, and Mayer Gerges Malak, Rasha Mohammed, and Shahir Shawki as members.
