Dear colleagues, dear friends,

Our beloved country is passing through unexpected and devastating events of historical significance which may have the potential to paralyse our activities for some time ahead. Media reports don’t seem to allow estimations about when the condition will go back to normal again; it all depends on how negotiations with the protesters will develop over the days or perhaps weeks. With so many parties and opinions involved in this public uprising, and with even more parties intermingling to help solve the problems, the venture is not an easy but hopefully a gratifying one.
Watching matters closely, we are so far very concerned about the poor transparency of the situation which is certainly not of the kind to encourage our congress preparations, in particular with a view on the instability of the required safety standards. In addition, our sponsors are cautioning that they are no longer in a position to guarantee their support for our 2011 MSPDF Congress because of serious economic drawbacks owing to our current crisis.
It was therefore very unfortunate that these circumstances obliged our Organizing Committee to take the crucial decision of postponing the forthcoming annual event to a later date. We feel sorry that our Egyptian national development seemingly happens to interfere with our MSPFD 2011 Congress date.
We will communicate with you some time later this year with more information.
With best regards,

Organizing Congress MSPFD2011