Egypt’s Economic Conference 2022, called by President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, came at a critical time not only in Egypt, but also the whole world. The conference is often held in exceptional circumstances. One conference was held in 1982 when Egypt was still reeling from the effects of the 1973 war for the liberation of Sinai from Israeli occupation. The 2015 conference came when Egypt had experienced a violent political upheaval following the revolutions of January 2011 and June 2013. Both events aimed at putting the economy and back on track.
The Economic Conference 2022, held last week, was meant to evaluate Egypt’s present economic and social status and present a vision for the coming phase amid the global challenges that have rocked the global economy. The conference brought experts and the government to formulate a roadmap for the future of Egypt economy.
On the first day of the conference, Egypt’s Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli indicated the reasons for our economic ills when he recalled what Egyptian thinker Gamal Hamdan said in his book “The Character of Egypt”.
“The real tragedy is that Egypt does not use radical solutions for its crises; only stop-gap measures. As a result, problems accumulate and grow worse. Egypt resorts to the easy way out, thus repeating the cycle.”
Reacting to this, President Sisi presented a clear evaluation of Egypt’s economic status before the Economic Reform Plan launched seven years ago. The president pointed out that the depth of the crisis that contemporary Egypt has been suffering from required bold action and that confronting challenges with relatively dangerous, decisive measures always collided with fears for the stability of the state.
The president also noted that the internal and external pressures always required popular support, while tireless efforts have been made to build public trust in the government’s ability to pick a solution from difficult choices, even though there were continual attempts by the Muslim Brotherhood to raise suspicion and doubt in the state’s leadership.
The president made an important point when he revealed that the state’s administrative apparatus lacked the efficiency to execute the required reform plans, and so the reform also included the administrative apparatus.
This is why Egypt’s leadership and government are faced with a stony path to build a foundation for the launch of a roadmap requiring years of hard work, the president said.
“Egypt has for the last decade suffered from an absence of understanding and awareness by the ruling elite of the real reasons behind our crisis and how we can resolve it,” he said.
“Then the events of 2011 and 2013 triggered the crisis and threatened the present and the future of this nation.”
“However, Egypt’s experience of the last seven years has proved that its people has accepted the challenge and sacrifice and that the political leadership has done all it can to win public confidence and proceed on the road to reform,” he said.
“Thanks to the successful adoption of a radical solution to Egypt’s economic crisis, the state has established a giant infrastructure network of roads, tunnels, bridges and highways. This is in addition to the construction of 14 new cities across the nation to absorb the swelling population, which has now reached 104 million.”
“The state has achieved an agricultural breakthrough with the reclamation of 4 million acres in Toshka, Egypt Future and New Valley agricultural projects.”
“The discovery of the Zuhr gas field has secured local needs from gas and an export surplus,” President Sisi said.
The economic reform experiment and its accomplishments have made the Egyptian economy resilient to the heavy aftershocks of the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine. This successful experiment has proved that President Sisi possesses a comprehensive vision that has enabled Egypt to do the impossible. The economic conference 2022 crowned this success.
