Aziz Sedky | |
Order: | 36th Prime Minister of Egypt |
President: | Anwar Sadat |
Birth Date: | 1 July 1920 |
Birth Place: | Cairo, Egypt |
Death Date: | 25 January 2008 (aged 87) |
Death Place: | Paris, France |
Term Start: | 16 January 1972 |
Term End: | 26 March 1973 |
Predecessor: | Mahmoud Fawzi |
Successor: | Anwar Sadat |
Party: | Arab Socialist Union |
Spouse: | Leila Sioufi |
Native Name Lang: | ar |
Aziz Sedky (Arabic: عزيز صدقي, pronounced as /ʕæˈziːz ˈsedʔi/; 1 July 1920 - 25 January 2008) was an Egyptian politician and engineer.[1] Sedky served as the Prime Minister of Egypt from 16 January 1972 until 26 March 1973. He was nicknamed the "father of Egyptian industry."[1]
Aziz Sedky was born in Cairo, Egypt, on 1 July 1920.[1] He graduated with a degree in engineering from Cairo University in 1944.[1] He went on to earn a doctorate in economic planning from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.[1]
Sedky was appointed as a technical adviser to the Egyptian prime minister's office in 1955, a few years after the Egyptian Revolution of 1952.[1] He next served as a full-time member of the services board until 1956.[1]
In 1956, Sedky was appointed as minister of industry by the President Gamal Abdel Nasser.[1] Among Sedky's tasks as minister was the supervision of an industrialization program, which was financed by the Soviet Union.[1] The Soviets were, at the time, an important ally of the Egpytian government. Sedky launched a five-year industrialization plan in 1957.[1] This initiative was later merged into a "general five-year development plan", which lasted from 1961 until 1965.[1] He was a member of the Arab Socialist Union from 1962 and became part of its secret unit, the Socialist Vanguard (Arabic: al-Tanzim al-Tali‘i), which was also called the Vanguard Organization, in 1963 when the unit was established.[2]
Sedky was promoted as deputy prime minister responsible for industry and mineral resources in 1964.[1] Simultaneously, he also became the minister of petroleum and mineral resources in 1964 as well.[1] In November 1970, Sedky was also named as the deputy prime minister for production and trade.[1]
Sedky was appointed prime minister on 16 January 1972, following the resignation of Mahmoud Fawzi.[1] He remained in office until 26 March 1973 when he was replaced by Anwar Sadat in the post.[1]
Aziz Sedky died at the age of 87 on 25 January 2008, at the Hospital Europeen Georges Pompidou in Paris, France.[1]