Egypt's Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb laid out on Saturday the country's plan form economic reform, during the second day of Egypt's Economic Development Conference.
Addressing the attendees of the conference in the resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh, Mehleb said Egypt's plan depended on a set of factors, starting by political stability. Such stability, Mehleb said, was maintained by sticking to the roadmap announced following the ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in July 2013 following mass protests against his rule.
Egypt has already issued a new constitution in January 2014, elected a new president in June 2014 and is preparing to hold parliamentary elections, all in line with the roadmap, Mehleb said.
Giving a large space for the private sector to play a pivotal role in Egypt's economy and creating a special environment for investment are also among the steps taken to achieve economic reform, Mehleb said.
Ahead of the conference, Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi reshuffled the cabinet, introducing a new ministry for technical education. Mehleb said the new ministry is among the steps taken to produce trained and eligible labour force. Developing Egypt's human capital is also among the country's economic reform plan.
Mehleb said that introducing legislative and administrative reforms are also important to witness economic reform. He said the government is working on pinpointing the laws which stand in the way of investment in order to amend them.
On the eve of the conference, Sisi issued a set of legislations to govern investment in Egypt and cut down bureaucracy which investers face.
Investment Minister Ashraf Salman told reporters last week that the laws include incentives and benefits to reduce production costs, which would in turn encourage investment.
Launching giant projects such as the new Suez Canal project and the new administrative capital are also important steps for economic reform, Mehleb said.
"Egyptians are adding a new dimension to the Suez Canal by digging a new canal," the prime minister said.
Finally, Mehleb addressed the issue of helping underprivileged families as part of the economic reform plan. He said the government has plans for developing informal settlements and has already started developing the system used for bread sales as well as subsidising supply commodities.
Egypt has long been campaigning for this economic conference, hoping that it will bring investments needed to revamp its economy, which has been hit hard by four years of political instability.
During his inaugaral speech at the conference on Friaday, Sisi said that Egypt has a sustainable development strategy in place until 2030.
