The Egypt Government Excellence Conference, which was organised in cooperation with the United Arab Emirates, was held in Cairo on Tuesday and Wednesday to showcase successful experiences in government services in Egypt and the UAE, exchange expertise, transfer information, and learn the best practices of government work. The conference, held under the patronage of Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, aims to step up government services in a way that achieves the strategic objectives of the Sustainable Development Strategy of Egypt's 2030 Vision. The conference is the first step towards implementing an MoU signed between the Ministry of Planning and the UAE's Ministry of Cabinet Affairs and the Future in February on the development of government work. A session on “government innovation” featured Huda Al-Hashimi, the UAE's assistant to the director-general for Strategy and Innovation at the Ministry of Cabinet Affairs and The Future, who also supervises the Mohammad Bin Rashid Centre for Government Innovation, according to a press release. Al-Hashimi spoke about the importance of innovation for economic development, providing job opportunities and increasing income. Innovation requires human capital, institutions, regulations, innovative products and services, funding, investment, and a competitive environment, as well as technology and infrastructure, Al-Hashimi said. “Innovation is the basis of competitiveness between countries,” Al-Hashimi said, adding that it is the only way to face future challenges and overcome obstacles and that is one of the main criteria for government excellence. Innovation requires a vision and a clear strategy, as well as an environment that helps with generating ideas. On Wednesday, head of Egypt's Central Authority for Organisation and Administration Saleh Abdelrahman El-Sheikh said that the success of any person, institution, or government lies in the excellence of management. “Egypt has the ability to succeed, with its resources and the support of its brothers in the UAE, who we thank for their support and their keenness on exchanging expertise in [uniqueness], innovation and the development of government work,” said El-Sheikh. El-Sheikh said that Egypt's strategy for administrative reform relies on focusing on organisational structure, the workforce's productivity, legislation, government assets, general service, governance and cultural context. The reform plan relies on five axes for administrative reform; institutional development, developing capacities, legislative reform, improving services, the data systems, and boosting the efficiency of the state's administrative apparatus. El-Sheikh also highlighted the importance of training employees and executives. Some 52 percent of Egypt's young people are below 25 years old, 61 percent are below 30, 68.79 percent are below 35, and 75.63 percent below 40, on which Egypt needs to capitalise. The administrative reform plan is part of the Egypt Vision 2030 for sustainable development. El-Sheikh said that Egypt prioritises the people, and that the plan does not include laying off employees. Rasha Ayad Ragheb, executive director of the presidency-affiliated National Academy for Youth Training and Empowerment, presented the academy's experience at the conference. The academy prepares young people to work in the administrative sector and to train them to participate in the political and partisan scene and become entrepreneurs, Ragheb said. This is part of the government's strategy for administrative reform. The academy was established in August 2017 and since then, 1,000 20 to 30-year-old students graduated over two classes. Another session was held under the name 'Experiences in Excellence,' which concluded that human resources and efficiency are key to achieving excellence in any institution. Banque Misr chairman Mohamed El-Etreby presented during the session the “Talaat Harb is coming back” slogan, which aims at supporting young people in local manufacturing and small project funding. Also during the session, executive director of Zewail City of Science and Technology Sherif Sedki said the city aims at spreading knowledge and preparing a generation of scientists who can create their own job opportunities. The students founded a fish farming company to use a technology that saves billions of EGP for the government and found a method for early diagnosis of Hepatitis C, Sedki said. Marwan Ahmed Bin Ghalita, the CEO of the UAE's Real Estate Regulatory Authority RERA (the regulatory arm of the Department of Land and Property in Dubai), said that the institution is following the strategy of excellence by relying on seven axes: vision, strategy, occupational model, a harmonious team, developing institutional capacities, the sustainability of the operation of development, and leadership. The institution follows the strategy of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, the vice president and prime minister of the UAE and ruler of the Emirate of Dubai. The 2021 strategy aims at making Dubai the number one city in a number of international indices, Bin Ghalita said. Ben Ghalita stressed the importance of workplace happiness in an innovative environment and empowering employees through training, consolidating institutional belonging and team spirit. The Department of Land and Property in Dubai developed the property sector in Dubai and encouraged investments, which made of Dubai an international destination for real estate, making real estate represent 15 percent of Dubai's GDP, with investments worth 1.1 trillion Emirati dirhams, attracting 400,000 investors and 824 real estate developers. Dubai is the first real estate destination to apply blockchain systems, which helped it in boosting its international competitiveness indices, as it became number one regionally and 10th internationally in efficiency of property registration, and number one regionally in the real estate transparency indices.
