Sisi directs allocating LE 100M from “Long Live Egypt Fund” to support “Fund for Elderly”

CAIRO – 1 January 2024: Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al Sisi met, Monday with Prime Minister, Moustafa Madbouly, and Minister of Social Solidarity Nevine El-Qabbaj.

Spokesman for the Presidency, Ahmed Fahmy, said the meeting tackled a number of issues, primarily the protection and improvement of the quality of life of the elderly in Egypt and ways to address the challenges they encounter.

President Sisi was briefed on the services provided to them, including social, insurance and healthcare services. The discussion also touched on the need to facilitate transactions for the elderly in all institutions, as well as coordinate efforts and develop a common vision toward providing them with the means to live in dignity.

The President gave directives to further enhance and develop programs for the care of the elderly, set standards for the quality of services offered to them and collect budgets allocated to the benefits and services that concern them.

President Sisi also directed to allocate LE 100 million from the “Long Live Egypt Fund” to support the “Fund for the Elderly”, which is set to be established once Parliament approves the Elders’ Rights Law. The President stressed the necessity to start studying ways to boost social, health and legal protection for the elderly, and stimulate their community participation across all levels, emanating from the belief in the state’s responsibility towards its citizens in this age group.

The meeting also focused on the government’s efforts to bolster the societal role of ”Nasser Bank” and the bank’s projects which target economic empowerment, expanding the solidarity sector, and developing social responsibility. This includes in particular offering financing to stimulate local demand and various banking and savings products to meet the needs of customers from the various strata.

President Sisi stressed the need to strengthen efforts toward modernizing and developing the bank’s information and technology systems, and facilitating financial inclusion procedures and electronic banking, in line with the state’s endeavors toward digital transformation.

The President was briefed on the government's efforts to regulate civil society work, the procedures currently being implemented to activate the automation of the civil society work system, and the development of the electronic services to expedite the procedures for obtaining permits and approvals for projects and grants. This aims to confirm the effective contributions of civil society work to serving societal issues, participating in national projects and achieving the sustainable development indicators.

The President gave directives to strengthen the technological component in civil society work in general and increase the training provided to the relevant cadres to match international standards in the utilization of this component. This is in addition to facilitating and providing technology to civil society organizations, so as to streamline procedures for good management and achieve utmost economic benefits and social returns for civil society programs.