PM Beblawi and his cabinet

Hazem el-Beblawi is a liberal economist

Hazem el-Beblawi has been appointed prime minister of the transitional government led by Egyptian interim President Adly Mahmud Mansour. The members of the interim cabinet were sworn in on 16 July.

The government was set up after the head of the armed forces, Gen Abd-al-Fattah al-Sisi, on 3 July suspended the constitution, ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi and later announced that the interim leader would remain in office until fresh elections.

Mr Beblawi, 76, supported the 2011 revolution against Hosni Mubarak and was appointed finance minister in the military-backed interim government that followed.

He formed the Egyptian Social Democratic Party after the revolution.

'Remedy for tyranny'

Mr Beblawi is known for his liberal views on the economy and supports a free market system in Egypt.

He studied economy and law at Cairo University and received a doctorate in economics in Paris in 1964.

He later taught at academic institutions including Cairo University and the American University in Cairo.

Mr Beblawi headed the Export Development Bank of Egypt from 1983 to 1995 and served as United Nations undersecretary-general between 1995 and 2000.

Egyptians know the interim prime minister through his columns in the Al-Ahram newspaper and his books on political economy.

Mr Beblawi resigned as finance minister in October 2011 over the government's handling of Christian Coptic protests in which dozens died.

"Despite the fact that there might not be direct responsibility on the government's part, responsibility lies, ultimately, with the government," he said in October 2011.

His resignation, however, was rejected by the then head of Egypt's armed forces, Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi.

In September 2012, he warned that "political democracy is not a treatment for all diseases" although "at least it is a remedy for tyranny".

In May this year he said: "The Egyptian economy is eroding, the current subsidies pattern can't continue."

Mr Beblawi is expected to follow a pragmatic line in economic matters as interim prime minister.

Nabil Fahmy, Minister of Foreign Affairs

Nabil Fahmy

Born in New York in 1951, Nabil Ismail Fahmy is a career diplomat and the son of the late Egyptian Foreign Minister Ismail Fahmy.

Nabil Fahmy has held numerous government posts since 1974, including ambassador to Japan and the USA.

He is the founding Dean of the School of Public Affairs at the American University in Cairo (AUC). He is also the Chair of the James Martin Centre for Non-Proliferation Studies' Middle East Project.

Mr Fahmy has played an active role in international and regional disarmament affairs.

General Muhammad Ibrahim has kept his position as interior minister. He joined the government of former Prime Minister Hisham Qandil in January 2013.

Born in April 1953, Gen Ibrahim has served in various roles in the interior ministry including as an assistant minister for the prisons department.

Mr Ibrahim has been criticised for deploying heavy police forces to protect the Muslim Brotherhood main headquarters during anti-Morsi protests in Cairo.

Ahmad Mahmud Ahmad Jalal has been the managing director of the Economic Research Forum (ERF), a Cairo-based non-governmental research institution covering the Middle East, since 2007.

Prior to that Mr Jalal worked as a researcher with the World Bank for 18 years.

While there, he served as an economist for Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. He also worked as economic advisor in the private sector development department.

Prominent media figure Durriyah Sharaf-al-Din said she was proud to be the first female candidate from the state radio and television sector to hold the post of information minister.

Born in 1949, Ms Sharaf-al-Din has worked in senior roles in the information ministry and the ministry of culture and also in the broadcast sector.

She has also presented programmes for radio and TV.

The sports minister is a former football icon who played for the Cairo-based Al-Ahly football team. Mr Abu-Zayd played for the Egyptian national team in the 1980s and is said to have inspired the Pharaohs to win the 1986 African Cup of Nations trophy.

Born in Cairo in 1962, he is a member of the liberal New Al-Wafd Party and ran for parliamentary election before the January 2011 Revolution.