The first edition of Cairo Food Summit will take place on February 27 under the auspices of Egypt's Ministers of Supply and Internal Trade, International Cooperation, Agriculture and Land Reclamation, and Trade and Industry. The summit comes as a translation of the government's commitment – under the leadership of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi – to fostering the development of the agricultural and food industries, in order to fortify the country's push for self-sufficiency and stimulate GDP growth. The private sector is actively engaging in this endeavour, devoting substantial effort toward actualising Egypt's Vision 2030 objectives. The summit's opening session will include keynote speeches from Ministers of Supply and Internal Trade, International Cooperation, Agriculture and Land Reclamation, as well as Ambassador of the European Union and Ambassador of Italy. Under the rubric Food Today & Tomorrow, Cairo Food Summit will enable major stakeholders from different sectors to collaborate and network, and work side-by-side on achieving the sustainable development strategy of Egypt Vision 2030 and make sure that the country's food sector can play its role in reaching it. The summit will bring together subject-matter experts from all sectors, including ministers, government officials, key opinion and thought leaders, to discuss the future of the food industry and explore ways to achieve food security and sustainable economic growth. It will include three specialised panel, namely: Investing in Agriculture Efficiency & Sustainability, Egyptian Exports' Outlook and Growth Potentials, Food Industry as Catalyst for Economic Growth. These in-depth sessions will shed light on the centerpiece industry of economic growth in Egypt, while painting a vision to address the sector's challenges and capitalise on its available opportunities. Through the summit, opportunities and solutions will be generated to assist in the development of the food sector in line with the nation's goals of curbing inflation in order to meet the long-term food security goals outlined in Vision 2030. Alaa Ezz, Secretary-General of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce, and Secretary-General of the inaugural Cairo Food Summit, spoke about the role of the private sector in promoting Egypt's agricultural and food industries sector – which serves as a core support of the national economy. "The government and the private sector are working in tandem to bring Egyptian exports up to the $100 billion mark annually – something that is not attainable without a joint, strategic collaborative approach." Ezz said. He added that there is an urgent need for an annual platform designed to create an open dialogue between government and private sector. "This will provide a comprehensive assessment of the agricultural and food industries, thus promoting constructive and tangible improvements. Business bodies, such as industrial federations, associations, and councils, enthusiastically endorse the progress agenda that the government set and is now being realized in partnership with the private sector." As for the first session entitled Egyptian Exports' Outlook and Growth Potentials, it will discuss Export Support Programme (ESP) in Egypt, currency depreciation and impact on exports sector. It will also tackle Egyptian government's role in improving the competitiveness of the local product and introducing new export markets and the strategy to achieve $100 billion in Egyptian exports. It will host Abdel Hamid Demerdash, chairman of Agricultural Export Council; Samir El Naggar, chairman of Daltex; Amani Al-Wasal, director of the Export Development Fund and Head of Commercial Agreement Sector in Ministry of Trade and Industry; Ashraf Abou Ismail, general manager of SONAC; and Hisham Helmy, vice president of the Chamber of Shipping. For the Investing in Agriculture Efficiency & Sustainability session, it will discuss challenges and opportunities in the agriculture sector towards achieving food security, how to achieve self-sufficiency in agricultural crops. It will also address digitisation and digital transformation in the food and agricultural sector, sustainability and mitigating climate change impact on the agricultural sector. The session will include Tarek Tawfik, deputy chairman of the Federation of Egyptian Industries and president of AmCham Egypt; Alaa Diab, CEO of Modern Agriculture Company- PICO; and Mohsen Elbeltagy, chairman of Horticultural Export Improvement Association (HEIA). This is in addition to Tarek Abu Bakr, undersecretary of the Agricultural Export Council and chairman of the Council's Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Committee; Medhat El Kady, chairman of Egyptian International Freight Forwarding Association (EIFFA) of the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce. The third session entitled; Food Industry as Catalyst for Economic Growth will discuss sustainable growth strategies for supply chains and retail trade, government's initiatives to finance agricultural and industrial sectors. It will also tackle the impact of global inflation and Russian-Ukrainian war on supply chains, localisation of food industries and restructure of Egypt's state-owned companies. The session will include Ashraf El Gazayerli, Chamber of Food Industries chairman; Tarek El Houby, the National Food Safety Authority (NFSA) chairman; Karim Abu Ghaly, a board member at the Chamber of Grain Industry in the Federation of Egyptian Industries, at the Export Council for Food Industries, and owner of Regina Pasta. This is in addition to Niels Thomsen, Group CEO of Juhayna Food Industries; and Karim Baraka, general manager of Savola Foods Company. Cairo Food Summit is sponsored by Regina Co. for Pasta and Food Industries, StartUp Power; the renowned competition that was launched by Egyptian business tycoon Ahmed Abou Hashima in addition to a number of other institutions.
