Dr. Hala Al-Saeed, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, participated as a keynote speaker at the Ministerial Conference of the Governance and Competitiveness Initiative for Development in the Middle East and North Africa of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (MENA-OECD) in the first session of the conference, titled "A New Growth Model for Recovery After Corona Pandemic: Governing Tomorrow's Investments in the MENA Region.
During her speech, Dr. Hala Al-Saeed emphasized that the success of the economic and social reform program launched by the Egyptian government in 2016, which was based on well-coordinated fiscal and monetary policies in addition to institutional and legislative reforms, is what helped Egypt in facing the Covid-19 pandemic and the state's adoption of a number of policies to confront the pandemic These include support for informal employment and support for the most affected sectors, which has led to a reduction in the negative social and economic impacts of the epidemic.
She indicated the state's determination to move forward to complete the comprehensive and sustainable development and reform process, which includes implementing structural reforms with the aim of diversifying the structure of the Egyptian economy, increasing its flexibility, and raising its ability to absorb external and internal shocks.
The minister added that these reforms focus on diversifying and developing production patterns, improving the business and investment climate and environment in order to enhance the role of the private sector, and promoting technical education and vocational training, while laying the foundations for a knowledge-based productive economy, noting the importance of these reforms to include all governorates of the Republic. Emphasizing on working for the localization of the sustainable development goals within the various governorates and taking into account the competitive advantage of each governorate.
The Minister added that these reforms and measures take a participatory approach between the government, the private sector, civil society, experts and academics. This is in order to ensure that the reform program is inclusive of all parties, and in order to work to uncover the current structural obstacles, and to identify the precise areas for reforms to reach specific goals and performance indicators.
Dr. Hala Al-Saeed explained that within the framework of work to encourage partnership with the private sector; The state established the Egypt Sovereign Fund with the aim of optimizing the state's assets and resources to maximize their value, give a strong impetus to development and preserve the rights of future generations, noting that the fund comes as a mechanism for cooperation between the public and private sector and encouraging joint investment with local and foreign partners in order to create job opportunities for young people in Egypt. And contribute to achieving sustainable development goals.
The Minister of Planning and Economic Development pointed out that the Covid-19 pandemic has created the need to enhance resilience and rearrange priorities, noting that the Egyptian state has increased investments in sectors with resilience that are able to withstand crises, as the investment plan focuses heavily on human capital, no Especially in the health and education sectors, in addition to expanding social safety nets, pointing to an increase in the investments of the communications and information technology sector by 300% to support the digital transformation process.
Dr. Hala Al-Saeed also referred to the importance of the transition to the green economy, which is a top priority for Egypt, noting that the fuel pricing reforms, investments in solar and wind energy complexes, and projects to convert gasoline-powered vehicles into natural gas, in addition to the shift towards public transport that runs on electricity, All aim to foster sustainable growth and create more decent jobs.
The Minister affirmed that the green public investment will be doubled, to reach 30% in 2021/2022 and then 50% over the next three years (2024/2025), pointing to Egypt launching its first green bonds to become the first country in the Middle East and North Africa region to issue bonds. Green.
On the support and empowerment of Egyptian women, the minister said that Egypt has taken unprecedented steps to emphasize support for women's empowerment and the advancement of their rights and highlight the vital role that Egyptian women play in developing the economy, stressing that women have become active partners at the executive level by occupying leadership positions in the administrative apparatus. For the state, and that the presence of women in powerful positions ensures the inclusion of the gender equality perspective in policymaking.
Hala Al-Saeed emphasized that the successful implementation of reforms requires strong commitment and solidarity among all stakeholders from governments, the private sector and civil society, through continuous coordination and effective communication, noting the importance of achieving rapid economic growth, provided that this growth is comprehensive and balanced, and this is reflected in During the Egyptian government's efforts to localize the sustainable development goals in the governorates, she pointed to the "Decent Life" initiative to help the villages most in need and improve the living standards of their residents, which includes the new phase for which the development of 1500 villages in order to provide various services to the people of those villages.
In the conclusion of her speech, the Minister of Planning and Economic Development affirmed that for a sustainable recovery after the Corona pandemic, governments must work closely with the private sector to improve the business climate through bold reforms aimed at overcoming institutional challenges and enhancing the competitiveness of economies.
The Ministerial Conference for the Competitive Governance Initiative this year comes under the title "Designing a Roadmap for Recovery in the Middle East and North Africa", as it aims to discuss citizen-focused policies that promote inclusive growth, resilience, capacity to face crises, means of recovery and multilateral support for national policies, in addition to To design joint initiatives to help the region build more effective economies after the Coronavirus pandemic.
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