The fourth edition of the "Egyptians Abroad" Conference kicked off on Monday under the auspices of Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly.

About 1,000 people from more than 56 countries around the world, in addition to the ministers of emigration, finance, social solidarity, education and culture, as well as a number of parliament members and public figures are attending the conference.

Objective

Minister of State for Emigration and Egyptian Expatriates' Affairs Soha El Gendy explained: “The conference aims to boost the national identity of children of Egyptian expats and provide them with all the necessary support since they constitute an important element of Egypt’s soft power,”

Agenda

At the inaugural session, the Ministry of Emigration will review its efforts during the current year to respond to demands of Egyptians abroad and the executive status of implementing recommendations issued by previous editions of the conference and its successful outcomes.

The conference’s agenda includes the discussion of three axes: the economic axis, the political and educational axis, the social and service axis via videoconferencing technology, within the framework of the "An Hour with the Minister" initiative.

The conference’s first session is dedicated to the economic axis, shedding light on Egypt’s economy in the past few years and the country’s efforts to reduce the effect of the global economic crisis. The session will also focus on the financial policies that the government adopted and the tools it used to increase hard currency cash transfers for Egyptians abroad.  The second session addresses the political and educational axis by discussing the importance of the participation of Egyptian expats in the national dialogue to exchange views on important issues.

The third session, which discusses the social and services axis, will focus on ways to coordinate with the Ministry of Social Solidarity to establish the Egyptians Abroad Fund and foster solidarity among Egyptian expatriates and immigrants.

It will also discuss providing them with health and insurance services. Furthermore, the session will address the issue of transferring the bodies of those who die abroad to Egypt and medical evacuation in cases of emergency.  

Activities

At the outset, Madbouly welcomed Egyptian expats from around the world in their homeland. He expressed his happiness to deliver this speech on the first day of the Conference, in which Egypt is always keen to underscore that expats are part and parcel of the Egyptian community.

Madbouly highlighted that Egypt spares no effort to support Egyptians abroad and is always keen to understand their needs and overcome any problem they face in Egypt or abroad. He also added that Egypt is keen to benefit from Egyptian scientists and experts abroad to participate in various development sectors and contribute to implementing national projects.

At the end of his speech, Madbouly affirmed that the government implemented the recommendations of the previous edition which was held in August of last year. He also added that he was looking forward to this edition's outcomes and recommendations.

Minister of State for Emigration and Egyptian Expatriates' Affairs Soha El Gendy delivered a speech, in which she said that this edition is the largest in number of attendees compared to all the previous three editions of the conference, which reflects the ministry’s efforts reaching them in all countries of the world.

She added that the conference is an opportunity to review the requests and needs of the Egyptians abroad, and listen to their suggestions, stressing the keenness to accommodate the largest number of those who registered in line with the capacity of the conference halls. 

The minister indicated that the conference will be held with the participation of representatives of the concerned ministries and state institutions, to respond to the inquiries and suggestions of the participants from Egyptians abroad, and work on studying and implementing them.

The Minister of Immigration said that the "Egyptians Abroad" conference, in its fourth edition, will discuss a number of main axes (the economic axis - the political and educational axis - the social and service axis) via videoconferencing technology, within the framework of the "An Hour with the Minister" initiative.

For his part, Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said Egypt achieved for the first time an initial surplus of 1.3 percent in fiscal year 2022-2023, after suffering an initial deficit ranging between 3-5 percent for more than 20 years.

The minister added that the initial outcomes of the final account for the budget of the past fiscal year 2022-2023, which ended on June 30, showed a real growth rate of 4.2 percent.

Maait said the total deficit hit 6.2 percent during the fiscal year 2022-2023, up from 6.1 percent in the previous year, noting that the hiking rates of inflation and interests combined with the change in the dollar exchange rate contributed to such an increase in the deficit.

He pointed out that revenues achieved an annual growth rate of 12.5 percent during the fiscal year 2022-2023, explaining that tax revenues increased by 23.1 percent, thanks to the efficiency of the tax collection system.
He added that during the just ended fiscal year subsidy allocations directed to subsidized commodities amounted to EGP 129.7 billion, while investments financed by the public treasury increased by 15 percent, reaching EGP 228 billion.