CAIRO – Egyptian Planning and Economic Development Minister Hala el-Saeed stressed on Thursday that Haya Karima (Decent Life) Programme aims at improving the quality of life of half of Egypt’s population in rural areas through providing better water, power, sewerage, educational and health services.
The minister gave the remarks during a meeting with Secretary General of the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development OECD Mathias Cormann.
She reviewed the five pillars of the initiative; innovation, sustainable development, digital transformation, governance and fighting corruption.
She made clear that there are 35 projects based on these pillars, 23 out of which are now under construction.
Saeed said the initiative brings together the ministries of planning, trade and industry, environment, communications and information technology, electricity in addition to the Central Bank of Egypt, the General Authority of Investments, the Small and Micro Enterprises Development Agency, the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics and the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZONE).
As for co-operation with OECD, she said cooperation runs in line with economic reform efforts in Egypt, referring to the State Ownership Policy Document that aims at managing state-owned assets in a better way and enhancing cooperation with the private sector.
She also referred to the National Project for the Countryside Development, saying it aims at promoting awareness of the importance of birth control, empowering women and computerising women-related services.
The OECD official reiterated the organisation’s commitment to render Decent Life initiative a success, lauding economic reforms in Egypt.
He said that all positive developments in the economic domain will be listed in the reports of the organisation about Egypt which will tackle for the first time all aspects related to the labor market, providing job openings and securing gender equality in recruitment.
