In a meeting held this evening, Dr. Mostafa Madbouly, Egypt’s Prime Minister, met with Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation, to review a range of important national projects and initiatives.
During the meeting, Dr. Al-Mashat provided an overview of Egypt’s Country Programme with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). This program aims to leverage the OECD’s expertise to shape policies that support structural economic reforms and enhance efforts toward sustainable and balanced development within the framework of Egypt’s Vision 2030. She emphasized that the program was developed with a participatory approach involving national partners, with 35 key projects spanning five main pillars: inclusive and sustainable economic growth, innovation and digital transformation, governance and anti-corruption, strengthening statistics, and sustainable development. Over 20 national entities are participating in the activities of the program.
The Minister also highlighted reports launched as part of the OECD Country Programme’s activities, which include an economic performance review of Egypt, a review of Egypt’s artificial intelligence policies, and a green growth policy review. She presented the key recommendations derived from these reports, which aim to inform and refine Egypt’s economic policies moving forward.
In addition to this, Dr. Al-Mashat reviewed the progress of the National Integrated Financing Strategy in Egypt. She pointed out the partnership between the Egyptian government and the United Nations Resident Coordinator’s Office in Cairo in 2021 to implement the “Financing the Sustainable Development Goals Strategy for Egypt.” Dr. Al-Mashat confirmed the completion of Egypt’s first-ever National Integrated Financing Strategy, designed to support sustainable development in alignment with Vision 2030. This strategy seeks to strengthen Egypt’s financing mechanisms to achieve its sustainable development goals (SDGs).
Moreover, Dr. Al-Mashat presented a report on the ongoing preparations for the 2027 Population, Housing, and Establishment Census. She discussed the proposed methodology for conducting the census, as well as the steps necessary to ensure quality at all stages of the process in line with international standards, particularly those set by the United Nations Statistical Commission. The Minister noted that the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) regularly conducts this census every ten years, with the most recent one being in 2017.
She further outlined the proposed methodology for conducting the census, which will combine comprehensive field surveys with data from digital records, including databases from state institutions. This approach aligns with Egypt’s shift toward a digital society. Dr. Al-Mashat explained that this methodology represents a significant transitional step that will prepare the country for a fully digital census in 2037. Such a move would allow for the publication of census data more frequently, relying on accurate, high-quality, and efficiently maintained digital records, in line with the United Nations Statistical Commission’s recommendations. These recommendations encourage countries to adopt a register-based census methodology beginning with the 2040 census round.
The meeting underscored Egypt’s continued commitment to leveraging international expertise, fostering innovation, and adopting cutting-edge methodologies to ensure accurate and sustainable development data for informed policymaking.
