Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has started via his Facebook page the third round of the "Ask the President" initiative, where he personally responds to questions and suggestions by citizens. The president is receiving questions and suggestions between 10 and 15 January, the Facebook page announced. The initiative was initially launched in April 2017 during the third national youth conference in Ismailia governorate, where the president received 172,000 questions from citizens on all aspects of political, economic and social life in Egypt. The president responded to the questions in a closed televised broadcast at the National Youth Conference. The second edition of the initiative took place on the sidelines of the fourth National Youth Conference in Alexandria last July, where the president responded to a handful of questions out of a total 300,000. The initiative classifies questions by category, with the last edition including Egypt's war on terrorism and the country's stance towards nations that support terrorist activity, economic and social safety nets, as well as Egypt's economic reform programme. The president's Facebook page states that the initiative reflects the president's keenness to directly communicate with all Egyptians and build bridges of trust and dialogue between citizens and the political leadership. Since assuming office in 2014, President Sisi has sponsored and attended four national youth conferences organised in different governorates, with the aim of directly communicating with Egypt's youth. The first national youth conference was held in Cairo in December 2016. The second youth conference was held in January 2017 in Aswan and tackled challenges facing Upper Egypt, including ways to develop the economy and tourism of the region as well as socially and politically empowering the youth. Source: Ahram online
