Publish Date : 19-Apr-2017
Dr. Nasr: "The agreement came within the framework of the President's directives to engage women in the development process and support the implementation of the national action plan for FGM abandonment and family empowerment".
On 11 April 2016, the Minister of Investment and International Cooperation Dr. Sahar Nasr and Mr. Christian Danielsson, EU Director-General for Neighborhood and Enlargement Negotiations, signed a grant agreement worth EUR 10 million financed by the EU to enhance women's rights in Egypt, in presence of President of the National Council for Women (NCW) Dr. Maya Morsy.
The purpose of the agreement was to contribute to implementing the national action plan for FGM abandonment and family empowerment, explained Dr. Nasr, who expressed her pleasure to sign the agreement, which would contribute to women empowerment in 2017 which was announced by the President as the 'Year of Women'. She also emphasized MIIC's keenness on implementing the President's directives to engage women in the development process, provide them with job opportunities and activate their role in the economy.
The Minister reiterated that supporting sustainable development was the key step to combat terrorism, while noting that she sent out a message to the world that the government worked closely with Egypt's development partners, the civil society and the private sector to support Egypt's economic success, which would contribute to achieving stability in the region.
Moreover, the Minister welcomed Mr. Danielsson and commended the EU role as one of Egypt's key and effective development partners, while referring to the deep-rooted historic relations between Egypt and the EU reflected in the signature of the above grant agreement.
Dr. Nasr further referred to the pillars of the government's economic and social program and to the endeavors to eliminate all obstacles facing the implementation of projects. The program, according to the Minister, is based on several pillars that focus on developmental motivation through encouraging the private sector to push forward economic development and foster an adequate investment climate in Egypt, besides planning and implementing serious programs for investing in the human capital, enhancing investment in the infrastructure, improving standards of living and social justice, completing the infrastructure of the national database and improving indicators of Egyptians' lives.
For his part, Mr. Danielsson said that enhancing gender equality and women empowerment constituted the core of the EU foreign assistance; thus cooperation between Egypt and the EU, especially during the "Year of Women", and enhancing women employment would have a positive impact on Egypt's economic development. He added that the "Improvement of Women's Rights in Egypt" program aimed to protect women's right and enhance their role and contribution to the country's development process, while noting that the total contributions of the EU in Egypt reached up to EUR 11 billion until present and asserting that cooperation with Egypt would help face terrorism.
In addition, Dr. Morsy stated that the agreement under the National Strategy for Empowerment of Egyptian Women 2030 which would, in turn, contribute to empowering women economically, politically and legislatively and to facilitating their access to justice in all fields. She noted the NCW was tasked with coordinating with the state organs to implement the strategy that includes four social, political, economic and protection pillars as well as cultural and legislative interventions. She further congratulated NCW, working on the FGM file, for the signature of the said agreement.
Dr. Morsy also commended MIIC's rapid response to the President's announcement that 2017 is the "Year of Women", while expressing her appreciation of the Minister for her decision to include women in all agreements to be signed by MIIC.
Afterwards, the Minister met with Mr. Danielson, where both officials discussed proposed and current means of cooperation to enhance partnership with the European side, which emphasizes the EU willingness to develop relations with Egypt at all levels, especially the economic one.
It is worth noting that Danielsson's visit to Egypt came within the framework of the technical agreement between Egypt and the EU on the partnership priorities during the upcoming years, given that the EU provided grants worth EUR 1.3 billion in support of Egypt. In addition, the Improvement of Women's Rights Program added to the EU previous commitments worth EUR 21 million directed to enhance gender equality and to empower women.
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