Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation, met with Orlik Vestergaard Knudsen, Deputy Secretary-General of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), as part of his first visit to Egypt, during which it hosted the Women’s Economic Empowerment Forum in the Middle East and North Africa (WEEF), where he witnessed… The meeting held comprehensive discussions between the two sides within the framework of the close partnership and implementation of the OECD country program in Egypt, in a way that supports efforts to formulate evidence-based economic policies and implement structural reforms.
During the meeting, Dr. Rania Al-Mashat expressed her appreciation to the entire OECD team for their strong support and efforts within the framework of the country program for Egypt, which had an important role in advancing the development agenda in Egypt, stressing Egypt’s keenness to enhance cooperation with the OECD, And moving forward with the implementation of the agreed-upon program, especially in light of the great importance the state attaches to implementing structural reforms that provide more opportunities for the private sector. To drive growth rates and implement the new government program for the next three years, in a way that supports the development vision.
She explained that the program works within the framework of 5 main pillars of the Egyptian government that represent important axes in economic reform policies, namely economic stability and structural reform, technology, innovation and digital transformation, public governance and anti-corruption, statistics and follow-up, and sustainable development, stressing that the program represents a main mechanism for Strengthening cooperation with the organization and joining Egypt as a member state.
Al-Mashat confirmed that the Ministry is working to intensify coordination with the relevant parties, agencies and ministries in Egypt to complete the implementation of the country program and build on what was achieved during the last period, as a number of country program projects have been completed in cooperation with national partner agencies, including the launch of the economic report. The first for Egypt, prepared by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, explaining that the Ministry is communicating continuously with various national bodies to follow up on the executive position of the recommendations contained in the report and to benefit from these recommendations in formulating policies and procedures that will enhance the performance of the Egyptian economy in a number of axes. The mission is to achieve macroeconomic stability, increase the efficiency of financial and monetary policies, enhance the investment environment, increase private sector participation in the economy, enhance labor market efficiency, create decent job opportunities, and support the transition towards a green economy.
She also referred to the report on the country review of artificial intelligence policies in Egypt, as the importance of this report comes as an effective tool for formulating evidence-based policies, in addition to relying on the recommendations contained in the report in implementing the second phase of the national strategy for artificial intelligence, noting also the inclusion of Egypt in a toolkit. The organization’s Going Digital Toolkit is part of activating the projects of the second axis of the program. This group aims to help the Egyptian government evaluate the state of digital transformation and formulate appropriate policies that will enhance digital transformation in all fields.
She also referred to the launch of the report reviewing green growth policies in Egypt, which provided specific visions and recommendations to enhance the transition towards a green economy through a number of important environmental axes, namely improving environmental governance and management to promote green transformation, greening the tax and fee system, and promoting green investment, as well as recommendations related to Climate smart cities and strengthening urban governance.
She stated that following the signing of the memorandum of understanding with the Secretary-General of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development during the annual meetings of the World Bank Group in Washington, the program was extended to end in 2025 instead of 2024, and thus a number of important projects are being completed and their outcomes benefited from, most notably the Productivity Enhancement Project. Focusing on the industrial sector, reviewing higher education and innovation policies, in addition to including Egypt in the value-added trade database, which is scheduled to be completed before the end of this year, in addition to the first technical report on reviewing business dynamics, which is scheduled to be launched at the beginning of the year. 2025.
She discussed cooperation with the organization in preparing the “Sharm El-Sheikh Guide to Fair Finance” during the COP27 climate conference, in line with strengthening climate finance, stressing the importance of strengthening aspects of cooperation with the organization in order to accelerate the pace of implementation of the sustainable development goals, given that there is less than a decade until 2030. In addition to discussing cooperation with the organization regarding the carbon limits adjustment mechanism (CBAM) through technical support.
Al-Mashat highlighted the establishment of the Ministerial Committee for Entrepreneurship with the aim of enhancing the ability of startups and the entrepreneurship environment to achieve sustainable and accelerated economic growth based on competitiveness and knowledge that contributes to creating decent job opportunities, and the technical working groups formed and the main tasks of each group, pointing to Egypt’s hosting of the climate conference. COP27 and the World Urban Forum within the framework of the role played by Egypt as an active country in international forums to address sustainable development issues.
For his part, the Deputy Secretary-General of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said that Africa is the only continent that does not have members in the organization. We hope that Egypt will be the first member country, and the launch of the country program is an important step towards that, and over the past period, great progress has been made regarding joint work with Egypt. To implement the country program projects, pointing to the most important projects of the program and what was achieved during the past period.
