National Dialogue to discuss price hikes, public debt in Egypt next week

CAIRO – 31 August 2023: The National Dialogue will discuss next week top priority issues, including means to face price hike to alleviate its burden on citizens.

In its sessions on Tuesday as part of the economic track, the dialogue will also discuss public debt and means of maximizing the benefit from internal and external borrowing.

On Sunday, the dialogue will discuss political issues, including the law of political parties, partisan coalitions, financial and administrative governance and the role of the parties’ affairs committee.

The human rights committee of the dialogue will also discuss on Sunday means of supporting and encouraging free speech and expression.

On Thursday, the cultural axis of the dialogue will discuss cultural industries, including cinema and TV drama.

The youth committee of the cultural axis will also discuss political empowerment of youth and support to student activities and student unions.

The activities of the sixth week of the dialogue comes two weeks after Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi announced receiving a number of proposals made by the dialogue, saying that he referred them to relevant authorities for review.

National Dialogue proposals

The National Dialogue reviewed and formulated proposals of its participants through the past months with regard to key political, economic and social issues.

Proposals submitted to the president cover issues, including a new law for local council elections, a suggested increase in the number of parliament members as well as amendments to the exercise of political rights law and the civil work law.

Some participants also proposed changing the electoral system for the Parliament’s House of Representatives and the Senate.

The dialogue also proposed establishing an anti-discrimination commission.

The proposals also cover the issues of developing industrial zones and providing requirements of agricultural production as part of the dialogue’s economic track.

With regard to social issues, the dialogue proposed a new guardianship law and also issued proposals to ensure further engagement of civil society in education development.