Minister of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation's Speech at the Signing Ceremony for the Implementation Protocol of the International Migration Survey Protocol in Egypt 2024/2025

The second edition of the International Migration Survey is the result of fruitful cooperation between the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics and international partners.

The survey aims to fill the data gap on migration, enhancing economic development efforts and providing comprehensive and specialized databases at the national level.

The survey provides evidence-based data and strengthens decision-making regarding migration, its causes, and effects.

 

H.E. Dr. Rania A. Al-Mashat, Minister of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation, participated in the signing ceremony of the cooperation agreement between the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics, the International Organization for Migration, and the European Commission in Egypt via video conference. The agreement concerns the implementation of the second edition of the International Migration Survey for households in Egypt for the years 2024/2025. This initiative is part of the Euro-Mediterranean project on international migration surveys with southern European neighboring countries, funded by the European Union, with contributions from the International Labour Organization, the United Nations Population Fund, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and the World Bank.

 

In H.E.’s speech, the Minister stated that this signing represents a new step in the long journey of fruitful developmental partnerships that the Egyptian state is keen to expand and adopt. The Ministry of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation adopts a collaborative approach in all its efforts, whether with other government entities, the private sector, civil society, or international development partners.

 

H.E. Dr. Rania Al-Mashat commended the role of the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics in supporting the launch of this survey, which is being inaugurated today. This marks the result of continuous effort and work by the agency’s teams and international partners. H.E. emphasized that today's celebration is the culmination of the efforts of all partners to reach collaborative and promising developmental partnerships in the future. The survey represents a new statistical product  in the valuable statistical series carried out by the Central Agency as an extension of its rich contributions to enhance the state's efforts to provide comprehensive and specialized databases at the national level.

 

H.E. Dr. Al-Mashat confirmed that the implementation of this survey aligns with Europe’s growing interest in the phenomenon of international migration. The European Union’s statistical committee (Eurostat) launched a project to monitor international migration from Mediterranean countries to the EU through a specialized survey. H.E. highlighted Egypt’s success as the first country to implement this survey. The survey aims to provide detailed data on the characteristics of migrants, the reasons, timing, outcomes, determinants, and migration trends, both from and to Egypt.

 

H.E. Minister Al-Mashat also underscored the importance of this survey, as it complements the existing frameworks of cooperation with European development partners in the field of migration. One of the key frameworks is the comprehensive cooperation between Egypt and the European Union, one of Egypt's main international development partners and a significant contributor to the country’s ongoing developmental successes. The EU has supported several development projects and unprecedented initiatives across various sectors in Egypt.

 

H.E. Dr. Al-Mashat further added that today’s agreement also complements the program “Enhancing the Response to Migration Challenges in Egypt,” funded through the European Emergency Trust Fund for Africa. This program aims to combat illegal migration, human trafficking, and address the social and economic root causes of these phenomena.

 

The Minister also highlighted the implementation of various projects that aim to address these root causes, such as the project “Addressing the Root Causes of Irregular Migration through Labor-Intensive and Employment-Generating Projects,” the project “Building Capacities through Infrastructure Development in Migration-affected Areas,” the project “Multi-level Education to Enhance Employment in Migration-Affected Areas,” the project “Addressing the Economic Causes of Irregular Migration,” and the project “Enhancing Migration Management through Institutional Support.” Additionally, there are projects like “Health for All” and “Combating Root Causes of Migration and Supporting Communities in Upper Egypt.”

 

The Minister of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation emphasized that the importance of this survey also lies in its alignment with Egypt’s national objectives to bridge the data gap regarding international migration among Egyptians. This survey will provide a database on the causes, timing, locations, and mechanisms of migration, enabling a deeper study of the migration phenomenon and international movements.

 

The survey also gathers vast amounts of data on various aspects of migration, such as remittance flows from Egyptians abroad and their impact on Egypt’s economic and social development. This clearly demonstrates the importance of statistical data in shaping the visions and strategies necessary to achieve sustainable and comprehensive development.

 

H.E. Dr. Al-Mashat stated that the survey aims to directly contribute to providing data on international migration trends and enable their analysis to support evidence-based policies, thereby enhancing decision-makers’ ability to take more effective actions on the causes of migration.

 

H.E.Minister Al-Mashat also mentioned the series of recent economic, social, and geopolitical crises globally, which have exacerbated economic and social pressures in many countries, leading to a rise in irregular migration, human trafficking, and other negative cross-border phenomena. Egypt is not isolated from these global and regional challenges, which is why the Egyptian state has adopted a proactive approach to address these phenomena.

 

The Minister affirmed that Egypt’s focus on migration issues is reflected in its comprehensive developmental approach, which seeks to eliminate the root causes of migration by targeting the most migration-exporting and migration-affected governorates. This is achieved through the implementation of a number of national projects that aim to improve the quality of life for Egyptian citizens, the most prominent of which is the "National Project for Rural Development" under the presidential initiative "Hayah Karima." This initiative aligns with Egypt’s broader vision to enhance services provided to citizens and achieve sustainable and comprehensive development by addressing aspects related to health, education, clean water, sanitation, road paving, sports, and culture, effectively making a positive economic, social, and environmental impact.

 

H.E. Dr. Rania Al-Mashat pointed out that the registration of the "Hayah Karima" initiative on the “SDGs Acceleration Actions” platform and the “SDGs Good Practices” platform, both under the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), has resulted in international recognition of the initiative’s crucial role in localizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in rural Egypt, improving national human development indicators, and integrating environmental sustainability into rural development according to global standards.

 

The Minister concluded by affirming that entering into similar developmental partnerships through the Ministry of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation contributes to supporting the country's efforts to achieve sustainable and comprehensive development. Egypt takes pride in its extended journey and growing portfolio of cooperation with active developmental institutions, which are increasingly important in a time when the positive outcomes of international cooperation are becoming evident in addressing mounting global crises.

H.E. Dr. Rania A. Al-Mashat, Minister of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation speech