Egypt’s president attends graduation ceremony of National Training Academy at World Youth Forum

CAIRO – 13 January 2022: Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi attended on Thursday a graduation ceremony for Egypt’s National Training Academy (NTA), which is in charge of providing training and rehabilitation programs for youth of different nationalities, on the sidelines of the World Youth Forum in Sharm El-Sheikh city.

This comes as part of activities of the fourth and last day of the forum, which kicked off on Monday, with the participation of youth from 196 countries as well as politicians, public figures, and key officials of different nationalities.

Hundreds of Egypt's NTA graduates took a group photo with the president as many figures were honored by Sisi during the session.

 

The National Training Academy (NTA) is an independent institution, bringing together future leaders from Egypt and the Region, to enhance and develop principled, innovative qualified human capital in service of country and society, to lead the development process, build impact and create a better future.

 

The international partners of the NTA lauded the measures it takes to face the coronavirus pandemic, asserting that the youth leaders play an important role in making the world safe place.

With economic, technological and global environmental changes, NTA facilitates multi-stakeholders’ sustainable initiatives and thrives to be the leading catalyst of holistic transformation and innovation developing effective global leaders who impact their societies.

 

The academy launched the 'African Presidential Leadership Program' in 2018 and three classes already graduated.

UNIDO, challenges

During the ceremony, Director General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) Gerd Müller said biodiversity and climate change constitute a growing global threat.

During his speech via video conference during the graduation ceremony of batches of the National Training Academy (NTA) in the presence of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, Müller said the pandemic has taken a huge toll on economic and social aspects, urging for more international support in order to confront these challenges.

He also rejected acts by some countries, which hoard doses of COVID-19 vaccines and booster shots, noting that the vaccination rate in Africa stood only at 8%.

The UNIDO is working on promoting comprehensive and sustainable industry development and providing environmental protection to all people, he affirmed.

He also pointed out to the efforts exerted by the UNIDO in order to further increase vaccine production in the developing nations, especially in the African Continent.

Müller further underlined the need of promoting agricultural entrepreneurs, especially in the rural areas.

The UNIDO has worked in Luxor and in Upper Egypt, he noted, adding that it is also working on disseminating technology use and facilitating green technologies in order to confront the challenges.

The UNIDO also supported more than 1 million youth in carrying out investments, he said.

 

Togolese youth

Togolese Prime Minister Victoire Tomegah Dogbé, in a word via video conference on behalf of the Togolese president, expressed gratitude for Sisi for organizing the World Youth Forum.

More than 70 percent of the residents of Africa are youth and they represent an important power for the economic transformation of the African countries, Dogbé said.

The climate change and coronavirus require searching for joint solutions among the African countries, she said.

She said that political leadership should provide opportunities for the generations and youth.

Togo launched the 2025 strategy to cope with the technological transformation and the serious health threats and set a roadmap to improve social merging via boosting investments in health and human capital in addition to providing job opportunities, she said.

WYF’s recommendations

Executive director of the NTA Rasha Ragheb expressed happiness that the academy now offers consultancy services to a number of governmental bodies, including Sakkara Center which is affiliated with the Local Development Ministry.

The academy is now in talks with a number of brotherly Arab countries to offer needed consultancy services, she added.

She added that the academy held partnership agreements with a number of its counterparts in France, Switzerland, Poland and South Korea to get acquainted with the latest as regards training methods.

Reading out the WYF’s recommendations, Ragheb said they include establishing a business council for African projects that bring together youth and businessmen and link youth’s ideas and innovations with funding opportunities.

The recommendations also include localizing water desalination technology in all countries suffering from water poverty, she said.

The WYF also calls for a global summit for international financial institutions and donor countries to discuss the best ways and mechanisms to help poor countries, Ragheb said.

WYF’s recommendations include the necessity to engage youth in climate change issues, she said. They also include placing issues of regulating the use of transboundary water resources at the top of the global agenda by formulating a global model of governance.

Ragheb thanked Sisi for having a great confidence in Egypt's young people, saying the forum, launched in 2017, sends a strong message to the entire world that there is a real political will to invest in human resources.

She said the academy includes many programs, including Presidential Leadership School, Executive Presidential Leadership School, African Presidential Leadership School, Junior Presidential Leadership School and Advanced Presidential Leadership School.

She added that the academy adopted many government initiatives aiming at honing skills of the State's administrative apparatus, including Professional Civil Servants (PCS).

Now, there are 28,000 Egyptian and African trainees at the academy, she added.

Meeting ACCET’s standards

Sisi also received a five-year accredited certification for the NTA from the representative of the US Accrediting Council for Continuing Education & Training (ACCET) Res Helfer.

“Not only that the NTA met all ACCET's 32 standards and sub-standards, it also exceeded 16 including professional relationships, education goals and objectives, program and instruction materials, facilities, qualification of instruction personnel, supervision of instruction, and most importantly student satisfaction,” Helfer said.

“As we gather here at the WYF and the NTA graduation ceremony, I'm reminded of the imp. of quality education in preparing our global youth to become the next gen. of leaders, policy makers, and even heads of states,” he added.

Egypt ready to tackle challenges

Christina Orisich. head of executive education at Geneva Center for Security Policy Geneva Center for Security Policy (GCSP), said during the ceremony that she believes that with young leaders of the caliber of these Presidential Leadership Program trainees, Egypt is ready to address the challenges and take up the opportunities of this new complex, uncertain, and interconnected world.

“I absolutely agree with President Sisi when he says that youth are the key to a more stable and peaceful world,” she said.

MENA contributed to the reporting