Prime Minister Hazem al-Beblawi finalized the formation of the new Cabinet, Al-Ahram state-run portal reported on Tuesday. 

Beblawi’s Cabinet will be tasked with managing the country’s new transition period following President Mohamed Morsi’s ouster by the Armed Forces on July 3. 

The final list of ministers includes politicians and technocrats, figures from the regime of former President Hosni Mubarak, alongside mostly liberal faces, and a few revolutionary figures.

Handling Egypt’s tumultuous economic portfolio is a group of ministers of mostly liberal inclinations.

Ahmed Galal, economist and World Bank expert, will head the finance ministry in Egypt’s new government. Galal, who holds a doctorate in economics from Boston University, has been the managing director of the Economic Research Forum (ERF), a Cairo-based non-governmental research institution covering the Middle East, since 2007. A researcher with the World Bank for 18 years, Galal served as industrial economist for Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa, economic advisor at the private sector development department, and finally as adviser on the Middle East and North Africa from 2006 to 2007.

Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour, a businessman, was given the industry portfolio. He began his career at American Express and later founded the Vitrac Company in 1980, a food manufacturer. He was also the board member of the Cairo and Alexandria stock exchange. He became the secretary-general of the Wafd Party and was appointed minister of tourism to the Cabinet led by then Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq in February 2011.

Osama Saleh, a banker of 25 years experience, was appointed minister of investment, a redux from former Prime Minister Hesham Qandil’s cabinet. He was also the chairperson of the Mortgage Finance Authority and Guarantee and Subsidy Fund in Egypt August 2005 and the chairperson of General Authority for Investments and Free Zones (GAFI) in September 2009. In addition, he was a board member in Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority.

 Ziad Bahaa Eddin, was given the international cooperation portfolio, following deliberations around his candidacy for the prime minister post. Bahaa Eddin was a member of Egypt’s first post-Mubarak parliament as a representative of the Egyptian Social Democracy Party. A veteran economist with a legal background, he served as chairperson of the General Authority for Investment from 2004-2007 before going on to head the then-newly formed Financial Supervisory Authority, which oversees all non-bank financial markets, institutions and products, including mortgage finance, insurance and capital markets.  

After the outbreak of the 2011 revolution, he resigned from his post and in February, was tasked with forming a committee to devise regulations that would avoid financial conflicts of interest between the state and ministers. He is now the director of the Egyptian Initiative for the Prevention of Corruption.

The Petroleum Ministry was given to Mohamed Shoeib, former head of Egypt Oil and Gas and vice chairperson for operations at the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation. He then moved to the private sector, heading Citadel Capital’s energy division.

Mohamed Abu Shady, a police officer and the chief of police investigation of the Supply Ministry, has been given the supply ministry portfolio.

Ayman Farid Abu Hadid, appointed minister of agriculture, was head of the Agricultural Research Centre and chairman of the North African Sub Regional Research Organization. In 2002, he was appointed chief executive officer of the Environmental Affairs Agency.

Laila Iskander was entrusted with the Ministry of Environment portfolio, a position she earned for her work as a social entrepreneur and various environmental project such as the garbage collectors recycling school in the Moqattam area and other projects in Sinai. 

Hesham Zaazou, returned to his post as minister of tourism, which he held in former Premier Hesham Qandil’s Cabinet. He had resigned in opposition to deposed President Mohamed Morsi’s decision to appoint a Jama’a al-Islamiya figure to govern Luxor, in what was deemed a blow to tourism since the Islamic group had been responsible for a deadly attack in the city in 1997.

Also returning to his post after a similar resignation is Atef Helmy, as minister of communications.

Ahmed Emam, minister of electricity and Ahmed Ibrahim, minister of the interior are also returnees. Ibrahim faced several challenges at the helm of the security sector during Morsi’s rule, at a time when various anti-Morsi protests could not be stopped by the ministry.

The ministry of military production also featured the return of Reda Hafez, a former air force commander and member of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. 

The manpower portfolio was given to Kamal Abu Eita, a prominent figure in the federation of independent unions, founder of the National Council for the Protection of Workers’ and Farmers’ Rights and former member of parliament, who ran on the Brotherhood ticket. Abu Eita, who founded Egypt’s first independent union and was imprisoned under the Mubarak regime, had previously turned down the position of minister of manpower when it was first offered to him by Shafiq’s transitional cabinet.

Ahmad al-Borai, named minister of solidarity, was referred to in the media as the transitional man for having served as minister of manpower following the January 25 revolution. Borai succeeded in raising the national minimum wage to LE700 during his time as minister, and also introduced several training programs with the aim of reducing the number of foreigners in the Egyptian workforce.

Hossam Eissa, professor of international law at Ain Shams University, has been confirmed as minister of higher education. Eissa, who received his PhD from the Sorbonne University, has previously taught in Japan and Algeria, and also served as a legal consultant for a number of international organizations, including UNESCO.

Meanwhile, Mahmoud Abul Nasr, former head of the technical education sector, has accepted the post of minister of education. Abul Nasr has also served as a professor at the engineering department of Ain Shams University. Reportedly, Abul Nasr handed in his resignation as head of the technical education sector shortly after accepting his new ministerial post.

The contentious ministry of information portfolio was given to Doria Sharaf Eddin, was given the ministry of information portfolio. A former state television employee, chairman of the censorship committee, and spokesperson of the National Council of Women, Sharaf Eddin is also a film critic. There have been calls to abolish the ministry altogether.

Equally contentious is the position of culture minister, given to Saber Arab, a professor of history at Al-Azhar University. Arab also served in Qandil’s Cabinet and was a regular columnist for the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice paper. The ministry has been staging a sit-in to protest the Morsi’s government attempt to “Brotherhoodize” the ministry, while there have also been calls to abrogate the ministry itself. 

The newly created post of national reconciliation minister has been given to Mohamed al-Mahdy.