Minister of Planning & Economic Development inaugurates the 5th annual conference of Al-Ahram Al-Iqtisadi magazine

Egypt’s government adopts a serious approach to transforming into a digital society and achieving financial inclusion: Says Hala El-Said

Egypt’s Minister of Planning & Economic Development, Dr. Hala El-Said inaugurated on Sunday the fifth annual conference of Al-Ahram Economic magazine under the title "Sustainable Development and Digital Transformation … Opportunities and Challenges".


The conference took place in the presence of Dr. Khaled El-Anany, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Abdel Mohsen Salama, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Al-Ahram Foundation, and journalist Sherif Abdel-Baqi, editor-in-chief of Al-Ahram Al-Eqtisadi.

During her speech at the opening of the conference, Dr. Hala El-Said reviewed the state's efforts to promote economic growth and the government's approach to achieving comprehensive and sustainable development.

El-Said noted that digital transformation is one of the goals that meet some UN goals to achieve sustainable development.

El-Said added that digital transformation and the expansion of electronic financial services represent a global trend and approach adopted by all countries of the world, as the digital economy has become an essential feature of the era and constitutes an important aspect of the global economy.


She explained that the technology sector has become an influential sector in global financial markets, a major locomotive for growth and job creation.


El-Said stressed that attention to issues of knowledge and investment in technology is a necessity imposed by the economic and social development challenges that the countries of the world are witnessing, especially with the increasing calls for the necessity of keeping pace with the requirements of what is known as the “Fourth Industrial Revolution” and the opportunities and challenges it poses.

El-Said explained that the Egyptian state has intensified its efforts to support the process of digitizing the economy, which will greatly contribute to supporting the state's ability to stay on the right track to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, by adopting proactive policies to build productive capacities that suit the new digital economy.


The government also adopts a serious approach to transforming into a digital society, encouraging the use of electronic payment methods, and achieving financial inclusion as one of the pillars for achieving comprehensive and sustainable economic and social development, which represents one of the main objectives of the government’s action plans and programs to implement the “Egypt Vision 2030” and its updated version.


Dr. Hala El-Said confirmed that the government has paid great attention to facilitating procedures and providing and developing government services in an electronic form, intending to facilitate citizens' access to them.


El-Said referred to the project to develop and automate technological centers to serve citizens.


She added that the Ministry of Planning’s automation of 6,603 entities to implement the goals of “Digital Egypt.” This included developing 4,700 health offices to register births and deaths in real-time, and linking them to the databases of 10 government agencies.


 This helps to save at least EGP 2 billion annually, in addition to developing 1970 vaccination offices, which constitute 36% of vaccination offices at the level of Egypt, out of a total of 5,400 offices. It is targeted to complete their automation by the end of 2023/2024, which contributes to determining the actual needs for vaccines and vaccines to ensure maximizing the utilization of budget resources and state uses.


El-Said added that 270 technology centers were developed, representing 84% of the locality units in Egypt, which are estimated at 307 local units, providing 133 services, with a total of 3 million transactions worth EGP 10.5 billion in 2020, as well as equipping and providing 62 technology centers. Mobile works for municipal services, justice (real estate registration and agencies), and civil status.

El-Said referred to the development of the "Value Your Services" system, which aims to develop an interactive mechanism to measure the quality of government services through the citizen's opinions.


Dr. Hala El-Said noted the launch of the National Program for Structural Reforms, which aims to transform the Egyptian economy into a productive, knowledge-based, and competitive economy in the global economy, to encourage inclusive growth, create decent and productive job opportunities.


El-Said pointed to the three priority sectors: agriculture, industry, information technology, and communications; with the support of complementary service sectors, the most important of which are: logistics, construction, and tourism.


On human capital, El-Said explained the importance of strengthening and building the capabilities of human cadres as an essential component of the digital transformation process, no less important than developing the necessary infrastructure and technology.


El-Said pointed out that training and rehabilitating the human element is a top priority for the government, as it is the main pillar for creating a digital culture that helps the citizen to absorb global technological development.


She also referred to the integrated system for preparing and following up the investment plan, which represents an integrated electronic system that links the general government units entrusted with preparing and following up on national, sectorial, and spatial plans in light of the sustainable development goals and "Egypt Vision 2030."


During her speech, El-Said referred to the ministry’s success in including four Egyptian initiatives, which are the Decent Life, the integrated system for preparing and following up the investment plan, the “Local Development Program in Upper Egypt, and the “Pioneers 2030” project, on the platform in UN SDG good practices due to its ability to converge with many of the United Nations sustainable development goals and achieve tangible results on the ground that positively affected the lives of citizens.