Background
Ibrahim Salem Muhammadeen was born in 1921, at Damietta, 30 miles west of Port Said.
Ibrahim Salem Muhammadeen was born in 1921, at Damietta, 30 miles west of Port Said.
Educated locally, then at Cairo University where he graduated as a mechanical engineer in 1942.
He went straight into the textiles industry at the Misr mills at Mahalla el Kubra, 80 miles north of Cairo, working in the mechanical department. After 13 years he went to England, pursuing his studies at Manchester University to gain a BSc degree in 1957 and an MSc in 1958. He returned to work at the Misr mills and rose to be chairman of the board in 1967.
His political career began to flourish in July 1968 when he was elected to the national congress of the Arab Socialist Union as representative for Gharbia. In September 1968 he became a member of the ASU central committee and in May 1971 he was appointed acting ASU secretary for Gharbia. His entry into the cabinet in March 1973 brought him testing problems of priorities in relating Production targets to the needs of President Sadat's “battle economy”.