Egypt launches initiative to encourage private sector to maintain employment

CAIRO – 5 May 2020: The Egyptian Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, in cooperation with the "Terous Misr Foundation", launched the "Egypt will pass" [Misr hataady] initiative, which aims to encourage the private sector to maintain employment and provide new job opportunities to confront coronavirus crisis, with the participation of a large number of owners and heads of companies.

The Minister of Planning, Hala Al-Saeed, said in a statement, Tuesday, that the initiative is a popular initiative to face the economic effects of coronavirus, noting that the campaign is continuous and open to all businessmen and corporate leaders.

She emphasized that the initiative seeks to preserve the fruits of the economic reform program that the country started in 2016, and was reflected in the increase in sustainable growth rates for more than three years now, as well as low unemployment rates and high growth indicators in the first half of the year to their highest levels.

She explained that, thanks to the positive fruits of this program, the Egyptian government was able to implement various economic, social and health measures to address the challenge of the spread of the Corona pandemic; then this initiative came to intensify societal efforts to support the most affected groups, with the participation of civil society institutions, opinion and thought, and private sector companies.

The Minister noted that, in light of the crisis of the spread of coronavirus, the Egyptian state adopted a package of economic and social measures consistent with the national sustainable development agenda, "Egypt's Vision 2030", as well as with the UN goals for sustainable development. In solidarity with these measures, the initiative was launched in partnership with civil society.

She emphasized that the initiative will work to face the impact on the first, second, third, eighth and seventeenth goals of the sustainable development goals, which is consistent with Egypt's 2030 vision, especially in the areas of supporting economic development, combating poverty and hunger, and supporting partnerships and social responsibility in light of the gains of the era of digital transformation.

Among the businessmen participating in the initiative are: Ahmed Heikal, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Citadel Capital Consulting, Ahmed Abu Hashima, Managing Director of the Egyptian Steel Group, and Ahmed Al-Suwaidi, Chairman of the Board of Directors of El-Suwaidi Electric Company.