PM Mostafa Madbouly held a meeting this evening with World Bank officials to review the proposed elements to be added to the industry development strategy, which is being prepared by the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
At the beginning of the meeting, the Prime Minister pointed out that cooperation with the World Bank to prepare this strategy comes within the framework of ensuring that the expertise of the international foundation is useful in preparing similar strategies for other countries that have been able to achieve a breakthrough in the industry file.
He added: We aim to prepare an integrated national strategy for industrial development in line with various very difficult global challenges and conditions witnessed by the whole world, and Egypt among them, in an effort to achieve a high industrial growth rate and increase the share of industry in GDP, as well as reaching high growth rates for Egyptian exports.
During the meeting, Ahmed Samir Minister of Trade and Industry explained that the preparation of a national strategy to promote the industrial sector was one of the recommendations of the economic conference held in October 2022, stressing that the industrial sector is one of the most important priorities for the government during the current phase.
The minister pointed out that the national industrial development strategy is being prepared in cooperation and benefitting from the expertise of a number of other international institutions, such as the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and the German Development Agency (GIZ), in order to obtain technical and advisory support during the preparation of the strategy.
He added that in addition to cooperation with international institutions, the ministry was keen to coordinate with business organisations and private sector institutions such as the Federation of Industries, investor associations and export councils.
During the meeting, Marina Weiss, Country Director of the World Bank in Egypt said that the bank received a request from the Ministry of trade to provide support in preparing the Egyptian strategy for the development of the industrial sector last November, stressing: "Since we received the request we have started preparing proposed elements of the strategy, and today we are reviewing it."
She added: The strategy consists of two phases, the first stage is concerned with deepening local manufacturing, and the second focusses on industrial sectors and developing them.
She stressed that the World Bank supports the Egyptian government by providing technical expertise in this strategy, in cooperation with the German Development Agency (GIZ) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO).
Meanwhile, Mohamed El-Shiti, a senior expert on private sector development at the World Bank, reviewed the five main axes to achieve the competitiveness element of the Egyptian industry sectors, adding that each industrial sector requires a set of basic requirements.
The five axes are enabling the business environment, facilitating access to production and marketing elements of products, easy access to attached industrial land, supporting trained human and technical capabilities, as well as facilitating access to finance.
He explained that the second phase of the strategy will include a detailed presentation of the advancement of each sector individually given the surrounding economic conditions.
Ellen Olafsen, a senior private sector development expert at the World Bank, presented a set of recommendations for the implementation of this strategy, similar to the implementation of those in a number of countries around the world.
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