The personal representative of Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El Sisi to the G20 and BRICS and Assistant Foreign Minister Ragy El-Etreby held talks with Director for the Middle East and North Africa at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Carlos Conde to review all aspects of cooperation between Egypt and the organisation and explore ways to strengthen their strategic partnership. The discussions included a review of the implementation steps of the Egypt-OECD Country Programme, particularly in sectors such as agriculture, governance, trade, energy, and infrastructure. El-Etreby underlined the political and economic priority Egypt places on this programme, viewing it as a core element of the country's structural reform efforts and Egypt Vision 2030 for sustainable development. The talks also touched on other avenues of cooperation, including the OECD's MENA Initiative and opportunities for enhancing it in the coming period. Conde commended the performance of the Egyptian economy despite regional challenges and global tensions. He also praised Egypt's active and constructive engagement across the Country Programme's various pillars, and its participation in the OECD's committees and bodies, highlighting progress towards narrowing development gaps with advanced economies, especially in governance, artificial intelligence, digitalisation, green transition, and food security. The two sides also discussed current global trade tensions and their impact on developing countries. They emphasised the need to preserve international trade as a key driver of development and to mitigate the repercussions of these tensions on Egypt and other developing economies, particularly as many are still recovering from successive global crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic. Both parties agreed on the importance of enhancing coordination in the ongoing efforts to reform the World Trade Organisation and support a rules-based multilateral trading system that ensures transparency and predictability. Attribution: Amwal Al Ghad English Subediting: M. S. Salama
