Egypt’s Ministry of Planning and Economic Development issues its work roundup for the year 2020.

The Ministry of Planning and Economic Development issued the Ministry's work roundup for the year 2020, which includes the efforts of the ministry and its affiliated bodies, and the most prominent activities undertaken by Dr. Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, and the decisions taken, the meetings held, and the most prominent of the approved projects. In the plan of the government, the roundup also touched upon the minister’s meetings with representatives of states and various international institutions to discuss ways to enhance cooperation in the development field and discuss investment opportunities with other countries. The roundup also included participation that took place at local and international conferences and events, the meetings that were held during the year, as well as to the most prominent achievements and projects that were unique to the ministry during the year.

On the achievements of the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development and the projects carried out by the ministry during the year 2020, the most prominent of which was the opening of the National Center for Information and Communication Infrastructure, which depends on building and making available an integrated digital information infrastructure for the Egyptian government, using the latest technologies in the field of satellite imaging and the use of aerial photography, in order to produce base maps and the production of all spatial reports (reports of spatial variables, reports of follow-up of national projects, reports of spatial analyzes, reports of spatial services), with the aim of following up the detailed performance of state projects and their assets, good use of resources and rationalization of government spending, and the establishment of an integrated national planning system to direct development efforts to Areas with real needs, as well as recovering the state's rights from monitoring violations, signing financial fines, and directing state investments, and the development of technological centers to provide local services to reach by the end of 2020 to 250 fully developed technological centers at the level of the governorates of the Republic.

During 2020, the Mobile Technology Center initiative for citizens' services was launched, and the Ministry, in cooperation with the National Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development, launched the "Be an Ambassador" initiative, whereby 7116 representatives from the governorates of the Republic submitted to run for the initiative to choose about 500 young people to spread the culture of sustainable development in the Egyptian society. In addition to launching the “citizen’s plan” for the second year in a row, which clarifies the projects and investment plans that are taking place in every governorate and every sector within the governorate so that the citizen can follow up on what is being done and participate himself in the follow-up process, in addition to launching the Minister's App, and the “Youth Campaign”. 

Efforts during the year 2020 included several appropriation decisions and appropriations approved by Dr. Hala El-Said to support the implementation of various projects in the country within the framework of the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development's keenness to provide the necessary support to state institutions and all entities to implement projects that serve citizens, as Dr. Hala El-Said agreed to approve investments of about EGP 4.4 billion to implement projects within the framework of the presidential initiative: improving the quality of life In the neediest rural communities, " Decent Life." In addition to approving the financing of household sanitation connections in the villages of the “Decent Life” Initiative at an amount of EGP 500 million, in addition to the approval of EGP 139 million for the governorates of Aswan and Qalyubia from the fiscal year 2019/2020 plan, in addition to the approval of EGP 200 million for additional credit for the supply of advanced medical equipment project. 

The list of approvals also included the approval of EGP 100 million as an additional appropriation for the Ministry of Transport to start raising the efficiency of the Aswan / Al-Alaqi road, and the approval to include the Innovation Center project in the Ain Shams University plan for the fiscal year 20/2021 at an amount of EGP 15 million, in addition to the approval of EGP 210 million for the development of hospitals. Assiut University, the approval of strengthening the Ministry of Transport’s plan by one billion pounds to complete the implementation phases of the ring road development project around Greater Cairo, and the approval to increase Kafr el-sheik University’s investments in the 2020/2021 plan by EGP 250 million, in addition to allocating EGP200 million to Siwa and EGP 80 million for Alexandria And EGP 69.6 million for Habata Airport, EGP 16 million for Habail, and an additional EGP200 million to be approved for the New Surgery Hospital at Tanta University.

On the level of the meetings that took place in 2020, which amounted to about 64 local and international meetings with representatives of international and international organizations, ambassadors of some countries, ministers, representatives of the private sector, and experts on sustainable development in Egypt and the world.

In another context, the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development participated in many international conferences in which it was honored to represent Egypt abroad, where Dr. Hala El-Said, on behalf of the President of the Republic, participated in the conclusion of the third session of the Paris Peace Forum, where Egypt participated for the first time officially in the discussions in the forum, as well as her Excellency. On behalf of the Prime Minister, he delivered the opening speech of the second edition of the Economic Summit for Egypt 2020, and the Ministry also represented Egypt at the annual meeting of the Governance Committee in Paris via video conference, in addition to Dr. Ahmed Kamali, Deputy Minister of Planning and Economic Development, by representing Egypt in the side event "Governance and policy coherence to accelerate work to implement sustainable development goals in the post-Covid-19 era within the high-level political forum, as well as the Ministry's participation by delivering Egypt's speech at the Governance and Vision 2030 Forum organized by the Embassy." 

The harvest of the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development included the efforts of the Ministry's affiliated bodies such as the National Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development and the Ministry’s training arm, which carried out several activities and protocols during the year. The Institute also held many training programs and workshops that serve sustainable development goals and the state’s plans to invest in people. Among the most prominent work done by the National Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development according to the harvest of the Ministry of Planning: Launching the African Women Executive Leadership Program, launching the digital education platform at the National Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development with international specifications, launching the institute’s first online seminars for female African women leadership training graduates, and the National Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development has reached an agreement with the State of Chile to allocate several scholarships Dr. Sherifa El-Sharif, Executive Director of the Institute, discussed the process of preparing the National Governance Report for the Republic of Kenya.

Concerning the most prominent work done by the National Khutaiti Institute "the research arm of the Ministry", the Ministry's harvest referred to the discussion of the World Human Development Report 2019 entitled "Inequalities in the twenty-first century" issued by the United Nations Development Program, the organization of the third episode of a seminar for young researchers entitled: Africa Education and prospects for prosperity, and the fourth session of the expert meeting on agricultural extension in the Egyptian agricultural system, and the international conference on "Energy and Sustainable Development".

El-Said also participated in many international conferences and forums, the most prominent of which was participation in the activities of the African-British Investment Summit in London, participation in the high-level political forum on sustainable development of the United Nations 2020, in addition to participating as a keynote speaker in many events, the most prominent of which was the speech of the symposium "Egypt as a hub." And a gateway to trade and investment in Africa “within the investment summit, participating as a keynote speaker in a symposium organized by the American Chamber of Commerce under the title“ A New Reality: Paving the Road Toward the Post-COVID-19 Phase ”, as well as participating as a keynote speaker in the German-Arab Chamber of Industry and Commerce symposium.

About Egypt's vision 2030, the Ministry of El-Khatait and Economic Development held a series of meetings and workshops on updating Egypt Vision 2030 in line with economic, social, and international developments after the achievements made in light of the implementation of the economic reform program and the changes that occurred in the world as a result of the Corona pandemic.

The harvest of the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development for the year 2020 also included referring to the most prominent reports issued by the Ministry during the year, which amounted to 85 reports, the most prominent of which included reports on Egypt's position in the Global Competitiveness Index for 2019 in the product and labor market axes, skills, business dynamism, and innovation capacity. The pillars of infrastructure, institutions, the financial system, and the sub-indicators in which Egypt has made remarkable progress, in addition to the reports that have been issued about international institutions praising the Egyptian economy, and their expectations that Egypt will achieve positive growth rates during the coming period, as well as the reports of the harvest of the construction phase and the citizen’s plan in the governorates.

Egypt Award for Government Excellence

The Ministry of Planning’s harvest included what was done since the start of the second round of the Egypt Government Excellence Award 2020 until the completion of the evaluation phase after 3058 candidates were nominated for the award, an increase of 40% over last year. The harvest pointed to the ministry’s launch of the first training of the Egypt Award for Government Excellence in its version. The second 2020, and completing the training programs for the "Egypt Award for Government Excellence" remotely through technological media services, as well as launching a series of interactive seminars and discussion panels (online) during June 2020, on the official page of the Egypt Award for Government Excellence.

Protocols and agreements

The Ministry of Planning and its affiliated bodies signed several protocols and memoranda of understanding for various reasons, such as promoting investment opportunities with various international institutions or within the framework of implementing projects and in the field of providing training opportunities to support building and developing human capabilities. One of the most prominent protocols signed by the Ministry and its affiliates during the year was: Signing Memorandum of Understanding for strategic cooperation for investment in Egypt between the "Egypt Sovereign Fund" and "Actis" for Investment, the signing of a cooperation agreement between the Egyptian Sovereign Fund and the National Service Projects Agency to study restructuring for some companies, work on a joint cooperation protocol on raising community awareness and qualifying and employing youth in the initiative Presidential "Survival Boats", the signing of a memorandum of understanding and an agreement concluded between the National Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development and the Sawiris Foundation for Social Development and a grant of four million pounds to the institute, as well as the signing of a joint cooperation agreement in the field of rehabilitation, development and development of human capabilities between the National Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development and the National Anti-Corruption Academy And the signing of a cooperation protocol on cooperation in the fields of training and education Governance and sustainable development between the National Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development and the National Institute for Policy Studies of Japan, signing of a joint cooperation protocol to maximize the benefit from projects and assets owned by agencies and companies of the Ministry of Electricity between the Minister of Planning and Economic Development, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Egypt's Sovereign Fund and the Minister of Electricity.

The protocols to which the harvest referred also included the signing of three cooperation protocols with Major General Mahmoud Sharawai, Minister of Local Development at the headquarters of the General Office of the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development regarding the launch of the mechanism for obtaining services from the e-local services portal, a joint memorandum of cooperation between the National Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development, UN Women and the National Council for Women was signed on offering a number of training to raise the efficiency of women, and the signing of a cooperation protocol between the Institute The National Governance and Sustainable Development Association and the Egyptian Red Crescent Society regarding cooperation in the fields of training, qualification and vocational guidance, and the signing of a joint cooperation protocol between the National Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development and the Advisor Club of the Administrative Prosecution Authority in the field of rehabilitation and development of human capabilities, and the signature of the National Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development and Gemina Enterprise Africa Memorandum of Understanding in the field of supporting building and developing human capabilities and entrepreneurship. An agreement has also been announced between "NI Capital" of the National Investment Bank and Bank Audi Lebanon to acquire the "Arab Online" brokerage company, and the signing of a cooperation protocol to study the current situation of the solid waste system. With the Ministry of Environment, in addition to concluding a twinning agreement between the institute National Governance and Sustainable Development with the German Hertie Institute for Governance in Berlin, and the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Ministers of Planning in Egypt and Iraq to draw up economic and development policies between the two countries.

The Sovereign Fund of Egypt (TSFE)

Regarding the most prominent achievements of the Egyptian Sovereign Fund, the harvest included the fund signing a contract to establish the Egyptian National Railway Industries Company (NERC) with the General Authority for the Economic Zone of the Suez Canal, and the launch of the fund for its first investment in developing the "Bab Al-Azab" in cooperation with the Supreme Council of Antiquities. A development contract was signed between Egypt's Sovereign Fund and the Supreme Council of Antiquities to develop, provide, operate and manage visitor services in the archaeological "Bab Al-Azab" area of ​​Salah El-Din Al-Ayoubi Citadel. The announcement of entering into a partnership with the National Service Agency of the Armed Forces to offer the Safi and National Petroleum companies to invest with the private sector. On the entry of Egypt's sovereign fund in the global rankings ranked 43 out of 93 global sovereign funds.

Field visits and tours

In 2020, Dr. Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, and representatives of the ministry made many field visits to follow up work in the governorates, the most prominent of which was Dr. Hala El-Said's visit to Sohag Governorate to open the second phase of the integrated development projects, "Long Live Egypt Projects", the visits of the ministry's delegation to follow up work in technology centers, the government services portal in the localities, and the visit of the ministry’s delegation entrusted with the project to develop localities to the governorates of Assiut and Minya to review the local services portal, Sohag, and the governorates of Aswan and Kafr el-sheik, and to prepare a guide for citizen services for Kafr El Sheikh, Matrouh and Cairo, the governorates of Luxor, Dakahlia, Sharm El Sheikh, Menoufia, Alexandria governorates Kafr El-Sheikh and Qena Governorate, in addition to the visits made by the delegation of the Ministry of Planning to follow up projects in several governorates. Including a visit to the Gharbia Governorate for field follow-up to Tanta University and to find out about the executive position of the projects listed in the university’s plan for the year 20/2021, and inspect many infrastructure projects in Beni Suef. Ministry officials also toured the coastal governorates, which are expected to be exposed to rain and torrents, to follow up projects and measures to avoid problems of rain and floods, in addition to the visit to the New Valley Governorate, Port Said, Damietta, and Ismailia, in addition to following up the executive position of the project to establish a Rashid fishing port in the Beheira governorate and visiting the city of Sadat in Menoufia, and the Dakahlia Governorate to follow up the executive position of the listed projects, in addition to a visit by delegations of the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development and the National Investment Bank to follow up on the achievements of the project Axis of Paradise.

Training programs and workshops

About the workshops and training programs held by the Ministry, the most prominent of which was to hold a workshop on ways and mechanisms for developing the "Adaa" system, and holding a series of workshops via video conference; With the participation of the Ministry of Environment and the presence of representatives from several ministries to discuss the "guide to sustainability standards in the sustainable development plan", in addition to holding the training program "Planning concepts in cities, centers and governorates", the launch of the capacity building program for the General Authority for Supply Commodities in cooperation with the International Islamic Corporation for Trade and Phase Finance Second of it.

The most important meetings

The National Council for Wages held its first meeting during 2020 and discussed the formation and tasks of the three committees of the Council, and came up with key recommendations, namely: reducing the total cost of transition to the formal sector, encouraging and supporting small and medium enterprises, in addition to strengthening and supporting manufacturing industries, and identifying and encouraging promising sectors to create jobs.

During the meeting, several pillars were discussed, represented in reviewing the most important international experiences in applying the minimum wage, and the criteria for their application from the perspective of the International Labor Organization, with extracting the most appropriate and best international experience for Egypt, and discussing the current situation in Egypt in applying the minimum wage, in addition to the impact of The application of this limit on macroeconomic indicators and human development, which included many positive effects, the most important of which is reducing discrimination against women in wages, reducing the level of inequality in wages, increasing labor productivity, and encouraging high-productivity enterprises to expand and replace low-productivity enterprises, With strengthening the incomes of families with lower income segments, and improving the quality of their lives, the meeting also witnessed discussion of the council members ’vision on the periodic increment for the private sector in light of the price and wages committee meeting.

The first meeting of the demographic center’s board of directors was chaired by Dr. Hala El-Said, where the meeting discussed the center’s plan and its contribution to resolving the population issue. The meeting referred to the population issue as one of the important issues, where it was clarified that the imbalance between resources and the population increase represented a major challenge, and the meeting touched upon the government's interest in the process of Investing in people in terms of spending and efforts in the field of health, health insurance, education, capacity building, and the importance of working to address the population issue.

The meeting recommended the necessity of resolving the demographic issue, which falls on the shoulders of various institutions and bodies in society, and the necessity to support the demographic center as a training and educational research center, with the development of new mechanisms for work in the next phase and the implementation steps that will be taken in the fields of education, training, and awareness, because the center has a major role in The African continent in terms of awareness, training, and education.

The meeting to discuss the national population strategy, where the committee formed under the chairmanship of the Minister of Planning and Economic Development completed the development of an executive strategy for the national project for family planning, which aims to control population growth and the negative repercussions of the population increase on development rates, in a manner that ensures the improvement of the quality of life for the Egyptian family, and achieves the optimal investment of human resources Especially since the persistence of high fertility rates leads to a set of economic and social challenges that affect the quality of educational and health services provided to citizens, which leads to a decline in the return from development efforts.

It aims to control population growth by reducing fertility rates, which will be implemented by each of the ministries: planning and economic development, health and population, social solidarity, international cooperation, and the state for the media, in addition to the National Population Council, the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood, and the Demographic Center in Cairo.

The plan is based on 5 pillars, namely achieving economic empowerment, service intervention, cultural, media, and educational intervention, digital transformation, and legislative intervention.

The pillar of achieving economic empowerment aims to enable women in the age group 18-45 years to work, earn a livelihood, and have financial independence, and through that, 60,000 small projects will be funded, at the rate of 20 thousand projects annually. For women beneficiaries of the family planning program who are committed to implementing its rules and standards, by granting them loans ranging between 4-20 thousand pounds, along with training them in the management process, with a total of 60 thousand beneficiaries nationwide, provided that priority is given to the villages of the "Decent Life" initiative in the governorates. 

Irregular Employment Committee

D. Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Rapporteur of the Ministerial Committee to Support Informal Employment Several meetings during the year 2020 to discuss the employment conditions affected by the repercussions of the Corona pandemic, and to study the mechanisms for disbursing the grant to them, as four batches of the irregular employment grant of 500 pounds were disbursed for many 1.6 million beneficiaries. In the first phase, then the grant disbursement was extended in implementation of the directives of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to extend the grant disbursement until the end of the year 2020, as the first payment of the second phase began in December 2020 to be disbursed to 2.260 million receivables.

Pioneers (Rowad) 2030

The harvest of the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development also dealt with the most prominent work done by the Ministry's Rowad 2030 project in terms of celebrating the graduation of the first batch of professional masters in entrepreneurship in cooperation with the University of Cambridge and the Faculty of Economics and Basic Sciences at Cairo University, and the graduation of the first batches of holders of a professional degree in The field of entrepreneurship, in cooperation with the German University in Cairo, and the launch of the Pioneers of Meter platform and the Egypt Award for Smart Applications, and three teams serving three sectors in the country were announced, namely transport, interior and tourism.

The project also participated in the Student Unions Forum under the title “Student energies for the future,” launching the “Entrepreneur’s Capsule” to raise awareness about the Coronavirus crisis, manufacturing and distributing more than 20,000 face masks to protect doctors in hospitals in different governorates, and announcing the opening of the door to apply for the Artificial Intelligence Incubator in its two branches at my university. Alexandria and Ain Shams, in cooperation with the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology, and the launch of a series of discussion sessions on entrepreneurship and economic development on the occasion of the celebration of the International Day of Small and Medium Enterprises.

Besides, a discussion session on “Entrepreneurial Opportunities in the Age of Artificial Intelligence” was held through the Artificial Intelligence Incubator (AIM), and another discussion session on “Intellectual Property Rights”, and the launch of the “Start Your Future” campaign in Matrouh Governorate, Luxor, Benha, the University of Egypt for e-learning And Tebyan Institute for Mineral Studies.

Several sessions entitled “Pioneers 2030: Entrepreneurship and Economic Development” were held on the sidelines of the Techne 2020 Summit in Alexandria, covering several topics, including AI and innovation in tourism, investment opportunities in emerging companies, and a meeting with the youth of Aswan governorate under the title of entrepreneurship and e-marketing. A workshop for Nubian women at the association's headquarters in West Suhail to raise awareness of ways to qualify their products for the labor market.

The animated series "Adam's Dream" was shown to raise awareness of entrepreneurship, and the launch of Rowad Studio, which is a group of experts specializing in this field and entrepreneur capsules, participation in she can, participation in E-youth and the Technology Entrepreneurship Summit, as well as About participation in the Egypt Entrepreneurship Summit 2020, participation in the Entrepreneurship League in Al-Azhar, and participation in the Business Conference, in addition to issuing the monthly Rowad 2030 magazine.

Regarding the most prominent figures announced during the year 2020, the harvest mentioned directive:

• EGP 280.7 billion of government investments in the fiscal year 20/2021, an increase of 33% compared to the year 20/2020

• An increase in the investments financed by the treasury from EGP 140 billion to EGP 230 billion, an increase of 64%

• The comprehensive health insurance initiative and geographical targeting of priority governorates includes the development of 79 hospitals and 294 primary care units in 9 governorates

• The investment plan for the Decent Life Initiative for the year 20/2021 amounts to EGP 8 billion in 357 new villages

• EGP 250 million for a survival craft initiative in 40 new villages to raise awareness of the dangers of illegal immigration

• Approving about EGP 8.5 billion, for the construction of 13 industrial complexes in the various governorates of the Republic to serve small and medium enterprises

• Increasing the number of trainees from 3,699 trainees in the first session to 6,660 trainees in the second session, an increase of 55.75%

• The number of Excellence Awards increased to 19

The presidential initiative to improve the quality of life in the neediest rural communities targeting a thousand rural communities nationwide and the first phase began in 143 rural communities with a total of 12.5 million citizens, representing 23% of the rural population, the initiative included pumping EGP 3.5 billion to reach the total at the end of 2020/2021 to EGP 13.5 billion.

• Allocating EGP 4 billion to improve and develop local roads within the governorates, increasing investments by 55% this year to improve the quality of life

• Egypt has achieved first place in the Middle East in terms of supporting women during the Corona pandemic

The PMI rose to its highest level since 2014, surpassing the 50-point barrier for the second month in a row, to reach 51.4 points in October 2020

Egypt advanced 90 points to reach 28th in the Road Quality Index (from 118th), and 62 (from 114th to 52nd) in the Infrastructure Index included in the Competitiveness Index.

• Egypt tops 11 places in the Ease of Doing Business Index

• Increasing investment in the communications and information technology sector by 300% and the agricultural and irrigation sector to 240% in the 20/2021 plan

The local product support initiative aims to provide goods to citizens with reductions of about 20%. The number of beneficiaries of the initiative reaches 64 million citizens

• EGP36.7 billion are included in appropriations for green projects in the 20/2021 plan, which constitutes 14% of the total public investments distributed in the plan

• EGP 3.8 billion additional investments to the health sector during the past month to confront the emerging coronavirus crisis

On the other hand, the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development issued several deviations during the year 2020 through the ministry’s social media platforms for the most prominent figures and indicators, including an infographic showing the number of workers in economic activities most affected by the Corona crisis, and another showing the impact of the Coronavirus on employment categories and the labor situation in Egypt And another that explains green investment projects included in the investment plan projects for the fiscal year 20/2021.

The Ministry also published a series of infographics on the government performance monitoring system "Adaa", and another on the integrated system for preparing and following up the implementation of the investment plan, in addition to deviations on the implementation of "Shark 2030". With graphics, the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development reviewed the formation of the board of directors of Egypt's sovereign fund, resources, components, and characteristics. 

With the end of the year, the most prominent achievement comes with Dr. Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, receiving the Arab Government Excellence Award, which is organized by the UAE in cooperation with the Arab League as the best minister in the Arab world, amid a great celebration from Arab and Egyptian institutions.