Planning Minister participates in the 2nd edition of the Aswan Forum for Peace and Sustainable Development

Dr. Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, participated in the second edition of the Aswan Forum for Peace and Sustainable Development, which Egypt is organizing for the current year from 1 to 5 March, in light of her leadership in the issues of reconstruction and development, the post-conflict phase in Africa.During the forum, El-Said participated in the high-level session under the title "Formulating a Vision for the New African Reality: Towards a Stronger Recovery and Better Building".El-Said discussed the economic reforms in Egypt and the initiatives launched before the Covid-19 pandemic, which helped the Egyptian economy to become more resilient in the face of the epidemic, referring to the economic reform program that the government launched in 2016.El-Said explained that the program included the implementation of a wide range of reforms, including adjusting fiscal and monetary policies through restructuring some sectors, most notably the energy sector, liberalizing the exchange rate, and improving the investment climate to increase competitiveness and restore investor confidence in the Egyptian economy.El-Said added that the Egyptian government has put in place many legislative and institutional reforms, which have contributed to creating a more favorable business environment.El-Said pointed to the laws of new investment the industrial licensing, the bankruptcy and exit from the market, the new customs law that is currently being worked on, as well as the small and medium enterprises law, the competition protection law, and the microfinance law.El-Said explained that the government has invested more than EGP 1.5 trillion Egyptian in infrastructure development over 6 years, seeking to enhance the competitiveness of the Egyptian economy and place it on the investment map, following up that the successful implementation of the reform program contributed to improving all economic indicators in the first three quarters of the year.El-Said pointed out that a growth rate of 5.4% was achieved, as it was about to achieve a rate of 6%, in addition to achieving a 7.7% unemployment rate, down from 12% in the last fiscal year, in addition to an increase in foreign reserves that exceeded $ 45 billion to cover 8.5 months of imports. , Compared to $ 15.5 billion in June 2016. El-Said emphasized that the economic reforms also contributed to the further diversification of the economy’s structure, making it less sensitive to shocks, especially those that lead to a decline in tourism, explaining that the strong economic foundations, which are reflected in those indicators, have contributed to enhancing the resilience of the economy, and given the financial space to take appropriate measures.On the policies adopted by the Egyptian government during the emerging Coronavirus crisis to mitigate the impact of the epidemic, especially on the most vulnerable groups, Dr. Hala El-Said said that the Egyptian government's strategy focused on maintaining a balance between ensuring the health of citizens and maintaining economic activity."The Egyptian government adopted a proactive strategy very early, as it took all necessary measures to mitigate the negative impact of the crisis on the most vulnerable segments of the population." She noted. In this context, El-Said explained that the government has adopted an approach based on three dimensions, the first of which is to reduce the burden on the most affected sectors, such as tourism, aviation, small and medium enterprises, and industry, through various measures that included reducing interest rates, postponing credit entitlements, taxes, and repaying loans and sovereign fees.El-Said also referred to the second dimension, which focuses on supporting irregular employment through the disbursement of monthly cash grants for 6 months, in addition to creating a comprehensive database of more than 6 million workers to enable them to obtain decent jobs.
El-Said added that the third dimension represented a rearrangement of priorities, with an increased focus on flexible sectors and activities, noting that the government's investment plan aims to increase investments in human capital, especially in education and health care, with an emphasis on capacity building, improving school conditions and establishing universities.In addition to increasing investments in the infrastructure and digitization sectors, to create the technological and information ecosystem for the transfer to the Administrative Capital and the automation of the services provided.El-Said also indicated the government's focus on localizing the industry by expanding in industrial zones, meeting local demand, and providing coping opportunities, explaining that the logistics services sector comes as one of the priority sectors, pointing to the endeavor to support the development of supply chains and hedge against unrest, especially about strategic commodities such as food and medicine, which were considered essential during the pandemic.Regarding the transition towards a green economy, El-Said emphasized that it is a top priority for Egypt, noting that the fuel pricing reforms, investments in solar and wind energy complexes, projects to convert gasoline-powered vehicles into natural gas, in addition to the shift towards public transport that runs on electricity, all aim to promote sustainable growth and creating more decent jobs.El-Said continued, confirming the targeting of doubling green public investments, to reach 30% in 2021/2022 and then 50% over the next three years (2024/2025), pointing to the recent approval by the Council of Ministers of environmental standards, noting also the launch of our first green bonds, to become Egypt is thus the first country in the Middle East and North Africa region to issue green bonds.El-Said pointed out that the government launched the "Decent Life" initiative to help the poorest villages, with a total amount of EGP 500 billion, benefiting 50 million citizens, explaining that the initiative was praised by the United Nations and was successfully included in the global partnership for sustainable development.El-Said added that the government stressed the importance of communicating transparently and effectively during the pandemic, pointing to the weekly press conferences held by His Excellency the Prime Minister to ensure the coherence of government messages and help enhance the citizen’s confidence and participation in the public policies that have been enacted.El-Said emphasized that the measures taken were decisive as they enabled Egypt to be one of the very few developing economies during the crisis, noting that the growth rate was able to achieve 3.57% during the last year 2019/2020.“The growth rate would have been 1.9% had it not been for government intervention,” She said.El-Said added that the unemployment rate is currently 7.2%, down from 9.6% in the fourth quarter of the previous year, in addition to an increase in foreign exchange reserves to reach $ 40.1 billion covering 7.3 months of imports after dropping to $ 36 billion last May.“During the first phase of the epidemic, inflation also decreased to 4.8% in January 2021 compared to 6% in May 2020,” She saidOn the policies adopted by the Egyptian government during the Coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis to support the achievement of the sustainable development goals, El-Said referred to the launch of "Egypt Vision 2030" in 2016, which is the national version of the United Nations sustainable development goals, from Through a participatory approach involving government, the private sector, and civil society.This vision is also consistent with the African Agenda 2063 that goes under the slogan of “Africa that we Want”.El-Said explained that the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, in cooperation with the World Food Program, will launch a knowledge platform that will facilitate the identification and exchange of experiences, lessons learned, and best practices in job creation as well as capacity building, as well as social protection and food security.“The initiative will include the implementation of several activities represented in the alignment of the national and regional development agenda with the sustainable development goals, providing technical support about Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) and promoting job creation in Africa through the implementation of the “One Million Jobs Initiative “that seeks to create one million opportunities.” She explained.El-Said explained that the pandemic highlighted the importance of the need to expand trade between African countries, noting that due to Egypt's unique location, Egypt is ready to facilitate exports between various regions in Africa and the global south.She asserted Egypt's readiness to share the best practices it has taken to mitigate the effects of the Covid 19 pandemic, Capacity in planning, monitoring, and evaluating sustainable development goals.El-Said concluded by saying that only through real commitment, political will, and solidarity among various stakeholders across governments, international financial institutions, companies, and civil society, countries can recover faster and rebuild a stronger exit from this crisis.The session aims to study the possibility that recovery pathways can contribute more strongly and rebuild better to progress towards the achievement of Agenda 2063 of the African Union and the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Plan, especially in light of the unprecedented challenges posed by the Corona pandemic on the African continent, and the rational leadership demonstrated by African leaders And the African Union in responding to these challenges.The second edition of the Aswan Forum for Peace and Sustainable Development aims to present a positive and ambitious agenda for Africa in the post-COVID-19 phase by strengthening critical leadership and innovative responses and policies to crises, based on the conclusions of the first edition of the forum.The forum brings together leaders of African governments, regional and international organizations, financial institutions, the private sector, and civil society, in addition to visionaries, scholars, leading experts, and practitioners, to participate in practical and context-specific discussions and to present forward-looking visions of new threats and challenges, as well as exploring future opportunities.