'The average world cost of terror reached $70B': says Social Solidarity min.

CAIRO - 12 April 2022: Minister of Social Solidarity Nevine el-Kabbaj said President Abdel Fattah El Sisi directed carrying out a scientific research on the political, economic, social and cultural cost of terrorism in Egypt, with a view to benefiting from the outcome of research in addressing the repercussions of the terrorism phenomenon.

During a symposium the ministry held Monday - in cooperation with the Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies (ECSS) - to launch the research project "Cost of Terrorism in Egypt," the minister said the research is the first of its kind in Egypt.

The research, that is being conducted in cooperation between the ministry and the ECSS, focuses on the root causes and costs of terrorist activities and their impact on the society.

According to the minister, the average world cost of terror reached dlrs 70 bn, though it was dlrs 15 bn 10 years ago.

She highlighted the ministry's role in facing up to terrorism, through providing a social protection umbrella, supporting economic empowerment, as well as entrenching the sense of citizenship.

The project encompasses four key axes -political, economic, social and cultural - with each axis examined in terms of the cost of terrorism, its causes and ways to counter it.

It will also tackle the ideologies and extremist values of terrorist groups that serve as a base to legitimize their acts of terrorism.

Representatives of the ministries that support the research project, together with professors and experts concerned with the same field of study took part in the gathering.