Minister of Local Development Manal Awad met with Jack Dangermond, Founder and Chairman of Esri, on the sidelines of the Esri User Conference held in San Diego, California.
During the talks, they discussed expanding cooperation in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for Egypt’s development programs.
The meeting was attended by Hisham al-Helbawy, Assistant Minister for National Projects; Ambassador Hossam Al-Qawish, Assistant Minister for International Cooperation; and several representatives from Esri.
This came during Awad’s participation in the Esri User Conference in San Diego, where she received the 2025 SAG Award for the “Atlas of Egyptian Cities” initiative, a data-driven platform for monitoring urban performance and development gaps.
For her part, Awad said that GIS has become essential to local planning and policy decisions. She outlined the ministry’s plans to upgrade the Atlas into a dynamic system that supports investment and decision-making using Esri’s technology.
She also proposed new areas for cooperation with Esri, including waste management, land monitoring, asset tracking, and spatial change detection across governorates.
Meanwhile, Dangermond welcomed the progress made by the ministry and expressed readiness to support future initiatives through technical support, capacity building, and tailored solutions.
