Egypt's planning minister, OECD secretary-general discuss cooperation

CAIRO – 27 April 2023: Minister of Planning and Economic Development Hala El-Said met Wednesday with Secretary General of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Mathias Cormann at the organization's headquarters in Paris.

During the meeting, the minister presented progress on the country program’s five pillars that are inclusive and sustainable economic growth, innovation and digital transformation, governance and anti-corruption, statistics, and sustainable development.

El-Said elaborated that there are about 35 projects emanating from these pillars, noting that the implementation of 22 of those had begun. The execution is carried out through the ministries of Planning and Economic Development; Trade and Industry; Environment; Communications and Information Technology; Electricity and Renewable Energy; the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE); the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI); Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (MSMEDA); General Authority for Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCzone); and, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).

The minister pointed out that the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development had created a matrix to follow up on what has been accomplished in each project with other ministries and beneficiary agencies.

El Said underscored that the government was focusing on enhancing the efficiency of the labor market through capacity-building and promoting vocational education. That is in addition to social protection programs, including the "Decent Life" initiative, which aims to improve the quality of life for about half of Egypt's population in rural areas by providing water, electricity, sanitation, education, and other services.

For his part, OECD Secretary-General, Mathias Cormann expressed his appreciation for relations with Egypt, commending the progress made in implementing the country’s program projects as well as Egypt's economic reforms. Thus, he stressed his commitment to working with Egypt to make the program a success.

Cormann added that these positive developments on the economic reform front would be included in the organization's reports, which will cover the labor market, job creation, human capacity-building, and gender equality in workplace.

The OECD secretary-general also expressed his appreciation for Minister El-Said's role as co-chair of the organization's Women's Economic Empowerment Forum in the MENA region. In a related context, the meeting discussed the proposal to hold the next meeting of the Middle East gender equality platform in Egypt.