President Abdel Fattah El Sisi directed the government to scale up programs aimed at qualifying rural women pioneers, with the aim of supporting the concept of universal social protection. Sisi's directives came during his meeting on Thursday with Social Solidarity Minister Nevine Qabbaj and Presidential Adviser on Financial Affairs Mohamed Amin, said Presidential Spokesman Bassam Rady. During the meeting, the president said that the expansion in such social programs should be implemented in line with the national project to develop Egyptian villages, the spokesman added. The social solidarity minister briefed the president on her ministry's efforts to step up emergency support programs for families and citizens who suffer from social problems that require an immediate intervention for providing the necessary social protection under the mechanism known as "social ambulance". The meeting tackled existing programs to support fishermen, through equipping them with the necessary fishing kits, as part of the State's trend towards providing integrated social protection and economic empowerment for irregular workers.
