At the closing session of the Egypt Forum for International Cooperation 2021

The Egypt Forum for International Cooperation and Development Finance, in its first edition 2021, concluded its sessions with a closing session that focused on Egyptian efforts and their role in development. From kindergartens and develop their mental, intellectual and educational skills to raise a child capable of absorbing the educational process and changing the concept of education within the Egyptian family that education is not for the sake of success in the end-of-year exam but learning for the sake of learning, and we do this in cooperation with the World Bank and with some countries that have applied the same ideas By such as Finland and Singapore.
We cooperate with the Ministry of Social Solidarity in the nurseries stage before the age of kindergarten, i.e. from the age of two years, in order to raise a generation capable of competition. The upbringing includes bringing about cultural change, building new skills, and gaining new learning skills to build a society that helps us take a comprehensive interest in the educational process and contributes to achieving sustainable growth. .
He added, "We are building the next generations from the nursery stage (pre-kindergarten) and we will reap the fruits of this experience after several years. As for the current generation, we are helping it to measure its skills and change its methodology, and among what we have implemented is the delivery of a "tablet" to every high school student to develop skills Understanding, learning and analysis, not memorization, and this year we are witnessing the “tablet” generation entering the university and also interested in technical education to qualify them for the labor market.
Dr. Nevin Kabbaj, Minister of Social Solidarity, stressed that investment in human capital leads to a reduction in poverty rates and is linked to a decent life, integration, inclusion and health care, with an emphasis on the continuation of the human investment process until the investment process yields its results. Therefore, the "Decent Life" initiative was linked to a large number of development indicators.
She added, "We attach great importance to increasing social spending, as digital transformation saves a lot of resources that were wasted in the past, and this was reflected in the poverty rate, as the poverty rate decreased from 32.5% to 29%. With regard to a solidarity and dignity pension, the percentage of women beneficiaries is 75%, taking into account Bearing in mind that investing in light of a escalating population increase is difficult, and for that we cooperate with all ministries, especially the Ministry of Health, to ensure a decent life for the citizen.
Al-Kabbaj explained that she was responsible for a decent life program when Minister Ghada Wali was in her position, and during this period we had many partnerships with all institutions and entities that we consider our success partners.
Al-Kabbaj concluded her speech by saying that investment is one of the endless paths.
For his part, Major General Mahmoud Shaarawy, Minister of Local Development, said, at the outset, I would like to talk about the Upper Egypt development project, where we identified the poorest governorates of Sohag and Qena, and through cooperation with the World Bank and coordination with all ministries, we have established a different institutional system and established advisory and specialized councils.
Shaarawy added, after the success of the idea in the two governorates, which started in 2018, during which we implemented 3,500 projects, we proceeded to generalize the experience to the rest of the other governorates in Upper Egypt through the establishment and improvement of sewage networks and the establishment of industrial cities with investments amounting to 4 billion pounds. The sustainable development of the United Nations due to its several development goals.
We also identified in the project the economic blocs within the two governorates, and we were able to revive some of the crafts that were almost extinct, and we also trained large groups on these heritage crafts that were in decline, and we provided them with raw materials, which contributes to the process of economic empowerment.
Ms. Mamta Murthy, Vice President of the World Bank for Human Development, expressed her happiness to participate in this international forum and stressed that what Egypt has done is a very distinguished thing, and this project is an attempt to confirm that human development is the first investment that includes all fields to become a treasure and not an investment. It is an investment in the growth of nations.
She added that the human capital indicators are part of the country's database, and we still have a lot to discuss about ways to enhance spending and investment in human capital. She pointed out that without the reforms that took place in Egypt during the last period, Egypt would not have been able to deal and confront the "Corona" crisis, especially in the program of a decent life. She explained that supporting education was very important to allow students to continue their studies after the pandemic, as there is a second generation of reforms to enhance human capital.
Kiko Miwa, Regional Director of Human Development at the World Bank Group, stressed that if Egypt had not carried out the reforms it had recently undertaken, it would not have been able to overcome the Corona crisis and succeed in confronting it. If there was no investment in technology, Egypt would not have succeeded in crossing the crisis and turning challenges into opportunities. She pointed out that Egypt is a leading country in Africa, and we must learn from its experience and apply it in other African countries.
Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of International Cooperation, said that every country achieves its development goals, so it is added to the international agenda. Therefore, the project for a decent life has interventions in all sectors and is divided into two parts, the first of which is infrastructure and the second is investment in the human element, such as economic empowerment and agricultural development, because the human being is the focus of the international cooperation portfolio .