Minister of Planning & Economic Development, Minister of Trade & Industry discuss mechanisms for implementing the economic development pillar of 'Decent Life' presidential initiative

Minister of Planning & Economic Development: 'Decent Life' is the largest development initiative in the world in terms of funding and the number of beneficiaries
- EGP 700 billion to finance Decent Life over 3 years, with a total of 58 million beneficiaries
Minister of Trade & Industry: We aim to establish industrial and craft complexes in the villages within the framework of the Decent Life initiative
The completion of a visit to 1413 villages and the preparation of detailed studies of the economic components of each village... and the preparation of 150 industrial and agricultural guiding feasibility studies

Dr. Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development and Mrs. Nevine Gamea, Minister of Trade and Industry, held a meeting to discuss the executive plan for the economic development pillar within the presidential initiative "A Decent Life." The initiative includes several pillars, including social, cultural and environmental development, and improving the quality of life.
Dr. Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development said that the "Decent Life" is the largest development initiative in the world in terms of funding amounting to EGP 700 billion over 3 years. It is also the largest in terms of beneficiaries of the initiative's development interventions, whose number reaches 58 million people. El-Said explained that this reflects the largest process to achieve the localization of the sustainable development goals, noting that "Decent Life" achieves all the international goals of sustainable development.


The Minister of Planning and Economic Development explained that the process of creating employment opportunities for the people of the villages within the initiative was discussed within the framework of the economic development pillar. El-Said stressed that work is now being done not only to create job opportunities but to ensure the sustainability of job opportunities and improve the income level for the residents of the initiative villages. This is done through financing small and micro-projects in cooperation with funding agencies, NGOs, the Agricultural Bank of Egypt, and the Medium, Small, and Micro Enterprise Development Agency.



For her part, Mrs. Nevine Gamea, Minister of Trade and Industry said that the meeting dealt with setting up a mechanism to coordinate efforts in the economic development pillar. The implementation of this pillar is supervised by the Medium, Small, and Micro Enterprise Development Agency, and a large number of ministries, government agencies and development partners contribute to it.
The minister stressed that the economic development pillar aims primarily at providing job opportunities through small and micro enterprises, building supply chains and feeding medium industries, as well as utilizing the comparative advantage in each of the villages with the "Decent Life" initiative. This will achieve the highest return from these advantages for the benefit of residents of the villages, Gamea explained, pointing out the necessary measures are being taken to establish industrial, craft and professional complexes in these villages represent one of the pillars of the Ministry’s action plan to promote industrial development and increase the contribution of the industrial sector to the GDP. This will in turn provide job opportunities for young people and meeting the needs of the local market for industrial products.



Gamea explained that the project’s implementation position until the end of July 2021 included the completion of the Medium, Small, and Micro Enterprise Development Authority from visiting 1,413 villages. The work plan for these villages was prepared according to the number of residents in each village and the ratio of youth to the total population of the village, as well as the rate of unemployment and poverty. She said that a detailed study of these villages in the 52 targeted centers in the first phase of the initiative was completed. The study included defining the data, indicators, and economic components of the village, identifying the most important competitive advantages and distinctive projects for each village, in addition to setting an action plan for economic development in the village.



During the meeting, Assistant Minister of Planning and Economic Development Dr. Gamil Helmy showcased the general features of the initiative and the operational plans for each of the pillars of the initiative, and he presented in detail the mechanisms for implementing the economic axis, especially the provision of job opportunities in the villages of the initiative.



Dr. Nada Massoud, Economic Advisor to the Minister of Planning and Economic Development also reviewed the features of the financing programs for small and micro-projects in the "Decent Life" initiative, and what has been done from building partnerships with the private and government sectors to implement financing initiatives for micro-enterprises in the villages of "A Decent Life".


The meeting was attended by Dr. Alaa Farouk, Chairman of the Agricultural Bank of Egypt, Dr. Mona Zulficar, Chairperson of the Egyptian Microfinance Federation, Amr Aboelazm, Chairman of Tamweely Microfinance Company and representatives of the Small and Medium Enterprises Authority.