Minister of International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat, Egypt’s governor at the World Bank, said the demographic report “Achieving the Demographic Dividend in the Arab Republic of Egypt: Choice, Not Destiny”, issued by the World, has set six political and strategic priorities topped by managing population growth through key investments in family planning and reproductive health, ending school dropouts, increasing women involvement in manpower, extending social protection programs, and improving governance of population programs.
Mashat shared her remarks on the fringe of launching the demographic report on Egypt, in the presence of visiting Vice President for Human Development at the World Bank, Mamta Murthi, Country Director for Egypt, Yemen, and Djibouti, Marina Wes, Housing Minister Khaled Abdel Khafar, Minister of Social Solidarity Nivene El Qabbaj, Minister of Education Reda Hegazi, and Deputy Minister of Planning and Economic Development Ahmed Kamali.
She welcomed the World Bank Group and lauded its fruitful cooperation and efforts to support development plans in Egypt over the past years, noting that the World Bank portfolio hit $6.8 B channeled to implement 14 projects.
In her statement, she emphasized that the report complies with the State’s national strategies and presidential initiatives, such as “Decent Life”, which launched in January 2019, and the National Family Development Project launched in February 2022.
These priorities aim to increase the contraceptive prevalence rate (the most important of the six), reduce school dropouts, increase female labor force participation, delay early marriages, leverage social protection programs, and improve governance of the country’s population program.
The four imperatives aim to assure broad-based socioeconomic development; they include creating productive jobs, investing in and leveraging human capital, enhancing financial inclusion and entrepreneurship, especially for women, and sustaining macroeconomic stability.
