Cairo protests: AFA Fertilizer Conference cancelled

Film of Cairo protesters on the streets was showing on the TV screens in the ICIS London office as fertilizer editor Mike Nash was getting his papers together on Friday afternoon for the AFA fertilizer conference set for Monday.

He was due to be giving a paper at the Arab Fertilizer Association annual conference at a hotel in the centre of Cairo. The last the Blog saw of him was as he headed home from the office, to a chorus of advice from colleagues telling him not to go.

Wisely, he decided on Saturday against going, particularly as the UK Foreign Office was warning travellers against all but essential travel to Cairo.

"I heard this morning that the whole event was cancelled anyway. Just not worth the risk .... Anyway quite relieved," he texted on Sunday.

The AFA Fertilizer Conference was set for 1-3 February 2011 in Cairo, Egypt.

ICIS runs an Ammonia Handling Workshop in partnership with IFA and with the support of AFA. At the time of reporting, the AFA website in Egypt was down.