The Foreign Ministry continued Sunday the campaign it started yesterday to promote the results of the National Youth Conference globally, which was held in Sharm El Sheikh on October 25-27.

The first National Youth Conference in Sharm El-Sheikh addressed a number of important issues in the country, especially the Youth participation in economic policy formulation, as the President of the Republic emphasized the importance of attaching high priority to the youth and their participation in the political life of the country, particularly in terms of economic policy, as participants at the conference agreed to prepare studies on the labor market needs and link to them the national projects’ needs, in addition to activating a quality global authority and paying attention to the workers so that they could carry out their work satisfactorily, the ministry said in a post on Facebook.

Furthermore, they agreed on organizing a youth dialogue with the state bodies to prepare a paper on economic reform, so as to reflect the youth vision of economic conditions, to be presented during the monthly conference scheduled for December.

The Conference stressed the need for the country at the present time to have feasible creative solutions, as the Egyptian youth represent the country’s potential and their creativity embodies a new start for achieving economic development, thus participants at the conference agreed to establish a creative center for projects, allowing them to put non-stereotyped ideas that would realize the country’s national economic interests, as a regular meeting will be held for youth and governors to make use of their ‘wasted’ energy to find solutions for unemployment and the economic difficulties they face.

Despite the country is suffering from budget deficit, as a result of the economic conditions in the country over the past years, the state has achieved successes in several areas, including housing, besides launching national projects that provided a large number of job opportunities for youth, the youth added.

Concerning the criticism that the government faced over the armed forces’ control with a huge percentage on the state projects and economy, the President affirmed during the conference that the role of the armed forces is only limited to intervening for the protection of the Egyptian national security, as it does not make a living or compete with the private sector, it also pays taxes and its activities are subject to supervision of the Accountability State Authority. In this context, the armed forces’ projects represent between 1% to 1.5% of GDP, while taking into account that the army’s armament is set in the framework of the budget of the armed forces and its economic capacity, not the State’s budget. The President added that the armed forces are scheduled, on the other hand, to deliver 1,350 projects during 2018 in several fields, which will push forward development, and contribute to the country’s advancement.

There was also a session held about small and medium enterprises to put an end to unemployment, as it tackled the challenges facing enterprises, topped by funding problems, procedures for projects registration and bureaucracy, in addition to complicated bank procedures. In this framework, the session tackled state policies aiming to create an investment climate and plan for the country, since the government affirmed that it would attach priority to small enterprises in the coming period.

The session also reviewed the government’s efforts in this field, as the initiative of 200 billion EGP to support youth projects was approved, the project “Your House Next to Your Job” was launched, 13 factories were established, 6 of them are accomplished, since they started production and exportation and were rented to the youth after posting ads in newspapers in governorates and holding interviews for applicants to select the appropriate ones for training. 

In addition, the government inaugurated a number of other initiatives such as “forsah” which eases the procedures with governmental bodies to remove bureaucratic obstacles. In light of this, the Ministry of Investment sets a map covering all governorates to benefit from the comparative advantage of each governorate, as well as proposing a law amendment that would enhance the investors’ rights. Means to enhance the production potential and implement the integrated reform programs are also being studied.

On the other hand, the conference reviewed the role of the Ministry of International Cooperation in the current period, as it carries on negotiations with the World Bank to prepare small and medium enterprises amounted to 200 million USD, the ministry also discusses with the African Bank funding the development of slums with 300 million USD.

Since social justice is an essential element for achieving development, the Egyptian government exerts fruitful efforts to provide good health and education services for all citizens. In this context, a workshop on social solidarity was held, wherein the participants reviewed a working paper on the negative effects of subsidies, and proposed the idea of converting commodity subsidies to cash support to regulate markets. On the other hand, the Ministry of Social Solidarity provides cash support which consists of pension funds, Solidarity and Dignity, which is an individual and not a family cash benefits.

The conference reviewed the efforts of the Ministry of Housing, which is currently responsible for the strategic planning projects, in implementing the Ministry’s plan for urban development, which includes establishing the new capital and developing the Suez Canal, Ismailia, and Port Said. 

On the other hand, the government is seeking to provide self-sufficiency of food crops and cultivating 4 million acres, in addition to interlinking the country with a roads network and expanding Cairo, besides depending on renewable energy. In this context, the minister of housing indicated during the conference that Egypt needs at least 40 new cities over the next 40 years in order to accommodate population growth.

The issue of education comes among the priorities of the Egyptian government, where the president stressed that education is the basis of the progress of any nation, adding that Egypt has 100,000 classes and 20 million students and needs a million additional classes. The debate on education also saw the importance of formulating good characters highlighted, in addition to the provision of vocational training and understanding how to reform the higher education system and focus on values, principles and knowledge. 

In this context, the President stressed the need to resolve the issue of education in ways that are creative and doable, pointing out that the Presidency’s Advisory Board on Education and Scientific Research is a starting point for educational reform, explaining that one of the achievements of the board is the launch of an Egyptian knowledge bank that any Egyptian can access to acquire knowledge. He noted that there are countries that carried out a major educational renaissance, but in return exercised violence and restricted freedoms.

The education session also witnessed a debate between young people and the minister of education, where the latter outlined the importance of providing technology and using sophisticated methods to deliver information, and to work in a collective manner and take advantage of the Internet and social networking sites, as well as the need for re-training of teachers.

The conference also saw a debate on the problems of extremism that are rooted in a limited cultural horizon, where he called on the Ministry of Religious Endowments to become a major cultural component in all phases of education to avoid extremism. He noted that Al Azhar is currently amending its curriculum in this regard.

With regard to illiteracy, the conference witnessed a debate on how to eliminate illiteracy and the importance of the role of youth in this regard. It was noted that the government seeks to gradually overcome the problems of education and at the same time is exerting significant efforts to eliminate ignorance and illiteracy. In this context, it was agreed at the conference to prepare a program to eradicate illiteracy where the young are heavily involved.

Source: MENA