The Ministry of Planning and Economic Development Signs a Tripartite Cooperation Protocol with the Project Management Institute and Brisk Business Inc. for Project Management.

The Ministry of Planning and Economic Development (MPED) signed a tripartite cooperation protocol with the Project Management Institute (PMI), and Brisk Business Inc. for Project Management in the field of capacity building and project management.

MPED Permanent Undersecretary Engineer Khaled Mostafa, PMI Executive Director in the Middle East and North Africa Greis Naggar, and head of Brisk Business Inc Emad Aziz signed the protocol in the presence of Advisor to the Minister of Planning and Economic Development for Public Policies and Structural Reform Dr. Khaled Zakaria, Senior Consultant for the Economic Governance Project at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Dr. Salwa Tabala and several MPED leaders.

 

 

During his speech, Eng. Khaled Mostafa confirmed that one of MPED’s main responsibilities is representing in the management of public investment and different projects, from national mega projects to local projects, while financing and evaluating these projects, the efficiency of the management of these projects, which emphasizes MPED’s interest in capacity building in the field of project management and supervising it. 

He explained that this protocol is intended to act as a professional, technical, and specialized reference for project management representatives in MPI.

 

Moreover, Mostafa added that MPI represents one of the international technical bodies active in its field due to its development in its practices as well as its endeavor to build employees, adding that MPED is one of the first government agencies in Egypt to hold such a protocol, stressing that the projects that are taking place in Egypt, stressing that projects being implemented in Egypt are almost unprecedented in size compared to many international standards.

 

Mostafa, also, praised the effort of Brisk Business Inc. in completing the cooperation with IMP. In addition, Brisk Business Inc joined the economic governance project, as an additional partner to ensure the implementation of part of the protocol. Then, he added that these efforts aim to build strong and rehabilitating capacities; explaining that training will be carried out at the standard level and the level of international best practices through the cooperation with IMP, indicating the importance of this cooperation in developing the special practices for project management on the governmental and local level and that it will not stop at the training stage, but will move toward the preparation of project managers in MPED, and in other ministries to become qualified and have a project management certificate, adding that the protocol aims to train and provide project managers with the competencies and skills required to manage projects and programs in an approved international standard.

 

 

For her part, Greis Naggar emphasized MPED's commitment to enhancing and building the capacity of its employees. This works hand in hand with IMP’s desire to support forging the future by raising the efficiency of technical capacity to improve excellence. She also added that cooperation with MPED represents symbolic strategic cooperation, emphasizing Egypt’s leadership in capacity building.

 

Meanwhile, Emad Aziz indicated that the memorandum mirrors the importance of developing awareness and providing all novelties in the field of project management in line with the growing need for certified project management practitioners in the Egyptian market and the neighboring markets to meet the needs of the enormous numbers of national projects in Egypt and the region, adding that the signing of the protocol is a confirmation of the state’s belief in international standards and best practices, stressing IMP’s commitment towards Egypt and its projects.

Additionally, Dr. Salwa Tabala addressed the relationship between USAID and MPED since Egypt's Vision 2030 launch in 2016. She stressed the government’s commitment to executing the vision. Also, Tabala touched upon economic governance, clarifying that the state uses governance as a tool to position economic development and attract projects and foreign investment as an objective. She added that while Egypt does not lack resources, the management is inadequate.

 

Tabala emphasized that Egypt has taken steady steps in administrative reform, explaining that the matter resulted in 5 new departments in ministries that included technological transformation, strategic planning, internal control, and governance, stressing the competence of the human element in Egypt, explaining that economic governance was aimed at accelerating the steps of technological transformation within the government, and capacity building to move to the administrative capital, in addition to Egypt's indicators in the World Bank's global governance indicators.

 

It is worth noting that the protocol comes as a continuation of the fruitful cooperation between MPED, IMP, and Brisk Business Inc, which resulted in many services in the field of project management, the most important of which is the issuance of the Project, Program and Performance Management Work Manual, which sets a technical framework for managing programs and projects.