General conception of security conditions in Egypt improved by 81% in 2018, official says

The general conception of the security conditions in Egypt improved to reach 81 percent in 2018 against 76 percent in 2017 in line with the Sustainable Development Goal no 16 on Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions, the deputy minister of planning and administrative development said.

Ahmed Kamaly made the remarks on Thursday during the “Business for Peace” Annual Event which is organized by the United Nations Global Compact.

More than 300 representatives from the business community, governments, NGOs, UN Global Compact Local Networks, academia, and the UN, take part in the Business for Peace Event.

The event is meant to scale-up private sector contributions and partnerships for the achievement of the SDGs and sustaining peace by sharing experiences, emerging practices and learning- with an emphasis on moving beyond anecdotal examples to systemic solutions.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are mutually reinforcing with peace, as the Global Goals are both precursors to and a result of peace. Societies with inclusive, transparent, effective and accountable institutions, low levels of corruption, peace and stability, and the rule of law provide an enabling environment for economic and social progress.

Kamaly underlined that Egypt is moving ahead to implement the SDGs, referring to what Minister of Planning Hala el Said mentioned about the progress Egypt realized in this regard.

He added that an improvement achieved in citizen treatment by security officials rose from 67 percent in 2017 to 72 percent in 2018.

This means that security level in Egypt is commensurate with the efforts being exerted by the UN Global Compact, he said.

He reviewed the efforts being exerted by Egypt to achieve Sustainable Development Goals under Egypt Vision 2030.

He highlighted the importance of getting the private sector to contribute to attain these goals.

He noted that Egypt’s economic and administrative reform program helped upping the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from 1.8 percent in 2011-2012 to 5.3 percent in 2017-2018.

He added that unemployment rate dropped from 13.3 percent in 2012-2013 to 9.9 percent in 2017-2018.

He added that restructuring the subsidies mechanism was vital to decrease the budget deficit to 9 percent in 2017-2018 FY against 10.6 percent in 2016-2017 FY.