Egypt’s Minister of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation, Rania Al-Mashat, has initiated a series of meetings with the private sector to enhance collaboration and investment opportunities in key development areas. The first meeting, titled Business Roundtable for Innovation, Development & Government Engagement (BRIDGE), focused on the youth and sports sector.
These meetings will help us develop a list of projects and enhance technical communication with relevant entities to reach constructive partnerships and collaboration opportunities between the public and private sectors,” said Al-Mashat.
Al-Mashat highlighted the government’s plan to develop a competitive economy reliant on private investments to achieve sustainable and inclusive economic growth.
According to Daily News Egypt, she outlined the strategic opportunities identified by the government to enhance private sector involvement in developing Egypt’s priority sectors, including joint investment opportunities and initiatives that could benefit from corporate social responsibility programs and other collaboration mechanisms.
Al-Mashat added, “The private sector possesses financial resources, knowledge, innovative thinking, and efficiency essential for driving sustainable development and economic growth”.
Al-Mashat also highlighted several initiatives the ministry took to empower youth, encourage investment, and promote innovation, including the Egyptian version of the UN initiative “Shabab Balad” and the Hub for Advisory, Finance & Investment for Enterprises platform.
She emphasized the importance of youth as a critical driver of economic and social growth, highlighting that they represent 58% of the total population. The government is focused on investing in youth through infrastructure development, capacity building, sports for development, and learning and employment opportunities.
The first BRIDGE meeting was attended by approximately 50 private sector representatives from companies such as Decathlon Egypt, Mintra, Meta, SAP, Kraft, Shell, Henkel, and the Sawiris Foundation for Social Development, along with representatives from the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the National Training Academy, the UN Generation Unlimited Initiative, the Public-Private Partnership Central Unit at the Ministry of Finance, and UNICEF Egypt.
