 | Under the supervision of MoIC, on 17 November 2016,Maj. Gen. Ahmed Abdallah, Governor of the Red Sea Governorate and the Minister of International Cooperation Dr. Sahar Nasr inaugurated the Egypt Entrepreneurship Summit in El-Gouna, Hurghada, in presence of Mr. Peter Van Rooij, Director- General of the International Labor Organization (ILO), Ambassador Troy Lulashnyk, Canadian Ambassador to Egypt, and hundreds of young people.
On the sidelines of the summit, the Minister was honored by Maj. Gen. Abdallah, the ILO, the Egyptian- American Institution and the Middle East Council for Small Business & Entrepreneurship (MCSBE) in recognition of her role in supporting entrepreneurship and SMEs.
For his part, Gen. Abdallah welcomed the Minister’s visit, referring to the governorate’s keenness on MoIC’s participation in its development, while noting that they give the opportunity for those with special needs to work at the governorate’s hotels.
The Minister emphasized that the success of Egypt’s economic program depends on achieving the social dimension, improving standards of living, and empowering women and youth. She expressed her keenness on visiting lagging regions to become familiarized with citizens’ priorities and, then, coordinate with development partners in order to support citizens’ needs, including entrepreneurship and SMEs that top MoIC’s priorities.
Mr. Van Rooij, on the other hand, emphasized that development of entrepreneurship is one of the tools adopted by the ILO to provide adequate job opportunities and added that they should work together to sustainably support entrepreneurship by enhancing effective participation between the government, the business community, workers and the entire society.
Accordingly, Ambassador Lulashnyk emphasized his country’s willingness to support the sustainable economic growth, especially providing young people with job opportunities, and help Egypt support micro, small and medium enterprises and enhance entrepreneurship, besides improving the private sector’s productivity.
The summit discussed the current status of entrepreneurship in Egypt, the global entrepreneurship system and the MSMEs system, besides entrepreneurship in art, culture and media. In this regard, results of the social entrepreneurship competition ‘Nawah’ are expected to be announced, given that the competition targets youth between 18 and 35 and is organized by the ILO within the framework of the Decent Jobs for Youth Project financed by the Canadian government in collaboration with MCSBE with a view to support entrepreneurship in Egypt.
On the sidelines of her visit to Hurghada, the Minister took part in the 'Job-Seeking Club' workshop held at the Port Youth Center in Hurghada under the Decent Jobs for Youth Project implemented by the ILO and financed by CAD 5 million.
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