Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said on Sunday that the state has increased its spending on scientific research by 47 percent over the past three years. El-Sisi, who took office in mid-2014, said spending rose from EGP 11.8 billion in 2014-15 to EGP 17.5 billion in 2016-17. The Egyptian president made the comments at a ceremony in Cairo celebrating Science Day, at which he honoured the country's leading scholars and students. El-Sisi said the government would create a new fund to sponsor scientists and innovators, co-financed from state coffers and the private sector. In addition, the government will increase the number of awards given to scholars and double their financial value, he said. Minister of Higher Education Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar was also at Sunday's ceremony, delivering a speech in which he highlighted Egypt's favourable ranking among nations publishing scientific research. Abdel-Ghaffar said Egypt ranked 35th out of 233 countries in terms of the amount of scientific research published internationally in 2017, according to the SCImago Journal & Country Rank. The ranking was announced in June by the Egyptian Scientific Research Indicator (ESRI), pointing out that Egypt's 2017 ranking was an improvement on 2015, when it ranked 37th.
