Planning Minister inaugurates 16th Scientific Conf. of Arab Society for Economic Research

H.E. Dr. Hala El-Said, Egypt’s Minister of Planning and Economic Development inaugurated recently on behalf of Prime Minister H.E. Dr. Mostafa Madbouly, the activities of 16th scientific conference of the Arab Society for Economic Research.
The conference is taking place from 1-2 October 2022 under the title “Strengthening the Capacity of Arab Economies to Resilience in the Face of Crises”, which organized by the Institute of National Planning (INP) in cooperation with the Arab Planning Institute in the State of Kuwait and the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport.

The inauguration ceremony witnessed the presence of Dr. Ashraf El-Araby, President of INP and Secretary-General of the Arab Society for Economic Research, Dr. Ismail Abdel Ghaffar – President of the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport, Dr. Mounir Al-Hamsh – President of the Arab Society for Economic Research, Dr. Badr Othman Malallah – Director General of the Arab Planning Institute in the State of Kuwait.
At the beginning of her speech, Dr. Hala El-Said commended the sixth edition of the Arab Development Report entitled “Economic Growth in the Light of Crises: The Covid-19 Pandemic”, which was launched within the activities of the conference, which was prepared in cooperation between the Institute of National Planning and the Arab Planning Institute in the State of Kuwait. She explained that this distinguished version of the report reviews, in its various chapters, the path of economic growth in the Arab region during the last ten years before the Covid-19 pandemic, and the fluctuation and variation that this path witnessed among the different Arab countries according to the resources and ingredients that each of these countries possessed, and what It faced challenges, in addition to addressing the repercussions of the pandemic on food and drug security and unemployment rates, and its repercussions on the course of economic growth in those countries, in addition to recommendations for economic policies and measures that Arab countries can pursue in facing the pandemic and managing recovery in light of increasing uncertainty.

El-Said highlighted the issue of financing for development and its pivotal role as one of the most important determinants of the ability of countries to move forward in implementing sustainable development programs and projects, whether in the international framework or in the national and regional frameworks.

Moreover, El-Said highlighted the urgent need for countries to establish effective partnerships between governments and the private sector.
El-Said added that in addition to the challenge related to financing development, there are other economic and social challenges that are no less important facing the countries of the region.
She further noted that all of the aforementioned challenges require strengthening cooperation mechanisms to find solutions and successful treatments for development issues and challenges in the Arab region.
El-Said affirmed Egypt’s pride in its constant communication with brothers from the Arab countries to exchange visions, ideas, experiences and successful experiences, especially in light of the Egyptian development experience during the past few years, which was launched in an environment that was not without challenges.



El-Said noted that these efforts are complemented by supporting the business environment and enhancing the role of the private sector as one of the main axes of the national program for structural reforms in Egypt, which was launched by the state in April 2021 through a dialogue with experts and the private sector, to represent the second phase of the economic and social reform program.

El-Said explained that the state has provided support to the main sectors affected by the crisis, the most important of which are: the health sector, tourism, industry, medium, small and micro enterprises, as well as support for regular and irregular employment.

Egypt has also worked to continue implementing national projects and development initiatives, at the forefront of which is the “Decent Life” initiative, which is considered the largest development initiative in the history of Egypt and the world in terms of the volume of funding and the number of beneficiaries , according to El-Said.

El-Said touched on a number of positive indicators for the Egyptian economy, including achieving a growth rate of about 6.6% in the fiscal year ending 21/2022, which is the highest growth rate in 14 years, specifically since 2008.
El-Said stressed that the efforts made by the Egyptian state to achieve development at the national level did not distract it from active participation in all development initiatives, whether at the regional, Arab or international levels.


Similarly, El-Said reviewed a number of initiatives launched by Egypt, including the “National Initiative for Smart Green Projects in the Governorates of the Arab Republic of Egypt”, which was launched in early August 2022 under the generous patronage of the President of the Republic and by a decision of the Prime Minister.


El-Said added that among other initiatives launched by Egypt on the occasion of hosting the COP27 conference, is the initiative “a decent life for Africa resilient to climate changes”, which comes within the framework of maximizing African and international benefits from the success achieved by the initiative for a decent life at the national level.