Irada’s Executive Director reviews the initiative’s efforts to promote economic growth and sustainable development in Egypt

Dr. Heba Shaheen, Executive Director of the Egyptian Initiative for Business Climate Reform "Irada", reviewed the initiative's efforts and achievements in promoting economic growth and sustainable development in Egypt.

This came during her speech at the "Business Empowerment Environment for Green Economic Development" conference, organized by Irada in cooperation with the African Development Bank (ADF).

Shaheen explained that the initiative was launched in 2008 to reform the Egyptian legislative and regulatory framework. This was done by strengthening policy-making, stimulating business, encouraging investment, and establishing a dialogue between the public and private sectors.

Shaheen emphasized that the initiative pays special attention to promoting a green economy and environmentally sustainable growth, noting that talks have been held with investors, businessmen, experts, and international organizations to discuss the best ways to employ green intellectual property to improve the business ecosystem and support climate action.

Shaheen indicated that the initiative focused on green projects, directly or indirectly. She pointed to the most prominent activities of the initiative during the first quarter of the year through the development of a paper on food security.

Shaheen added that focusing on the green economy is part of the initiative's mission to reform Egypt's regulatory and commercial environment. She pointed to what the initiative did during the same quarter of this year on several issues. These included deepening local industries and improving startup ecosystems.

Shaheen also referred to the introduction of the golden licensing system in Egypt as one of the most prominent achievements of the initiative, which is granted to strategic projects or partnership projects between the public and private sectors in Egypt, as a comprehensive approval for the establishment, operation, and management of such projects, following up that the golden license has a fundamental role in attracting foreign direct investment in new areas.

Shaheen talked about Irada's achievements, noting her contribution to various ministries and institutions in preparing Egypt's national intellectual property strategy. This is the first strategy of its kind that aims to strengthen national efforts to protect intellectual property and align it with international standards.

Dr. Heba Shaheen emphasized Irada's keenness to establish and strengthen cooperation with international partners. She noted Irada's participation in hosting the South Korean delegation to discuss the startup ecosystem in Egypt. The delegation met with stakeholders from the public and private sectors.

Shaheen explained that five axes have been identified to achieve a more efficient business environment and support entrepreneurship in Egypt, namely the development and implementation of the national plan to support entrepreneurship, the establishment of a national fund to finance and support startups, the expansion of business accelerators and incubators, the protection of intellectual property rights, and the strengthening of partnerships and international cooperation to support leading businesses.

Shaheen affirmed Irada's commitment to creating a more business-friendly environment that encourages investment, promotes economic development, and addresses climate change. She stressed the importance of Irada's work on regulatory reform to build a flexible and adaptable Egyptian economy.