Culture Minister Saber Arab said Tuesday that his ministry submitted a draft law to the government last week that would obligate state institutions, including the defense and interior ministries, to submit documents to the National Archives.
In statements on Tuesday made during a visit to the National Archive in Cairo’s Fustat Neighborhood, Arab said documents related to the January 2011 revolution, the 1973 war with Israel and the trial of deposed President Hosni Mubarak will all be preserved in the archive’s new building after renovations, based on the proposed law.
“We should not confuse laws on freedom of information and those [concerning] archives,” the minister said. “While the first is related to transparency in revealing administrative information to society and media, the second is meant with historical information that should be accessible to every citizen in a way that does not damage the country’s security.”
Arab stressed that the new archive project will match other world archives found in England, France and Spain. He said it would enable visitors to use technology to access digitalized databases.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
