By Ashraf Sadek: CAIRO, July 25, 2018 - government Wednesday won its first vote of confidence in the House of Deputies (parliament) after Prime Minister Dr Moustafa Madbouli presented his programme for improving the quality of services. The approval followed a parliamentary hearing that was held under the chairmanship of Speaker Dr Ali Abdel Aal, to review and assess the government's programme, which was presented on July 3. Following the sitting, Speaker Abdel Aal announced that parliament had approved the programme and have given the government a vote of confidence. Prime Minister Madbouli, who attended the sitting, pledged that he would take into consideration all the remarks and recommendations that had been made by the legislators about his government's plan of action. "The government pledges that it will work with parliament to implement the plan, whose aim is to achieve comprehensive development and build a modern state," the prime minister said. He described the MPs' comments on the plan as constructive, valuable and complementary to the government's programme. Speaker Abdel Aal said that parliament was committed to giving the government's plan all the support it needed and facilitating its implementation. In their comments, the MPs agreed that the plan should give extra attention to the development of border and desert governorates and launch a raft of government-supported ventures for improving the quality of services that were being offered to the residents of these governorates. The MPs demanded that the government take the initiative to reduce the number of beneficiaries of the subsidised bread system, so the bread would reach those who really need it. The MPs agreed that there were more than 65 million people who were using the system and that all of them did not, in fact, deserve to do so. The MPs recommended that the government's plan should pay extra attention to vocational training programmes to prepare the young people to meet the requirements of the labour market, which needs 15 million well-trained workers each year. The legislators recommended that the government should pay more attention to physical education in schools and take whatever action might be needed to promote sports among young people. The lawmakers called on the government to build and equip more waste-management facilities nationwide in order to conserve the environment and protect the people's health and well-being. In their recommendations, the MPs called on the Madbouli government to expedite its efforts to turn Egypt into a digital country. In addition, the parliamentarians demanded that the government's programme focus on attracting more industry-oriented investments. They agreed to form an ad hoc committee that would hold regular meetings to follow up and assess the implementation of the government's plan. At the end of the sitting, Speaker Abdel Aal said parliament would go into a summer recess that would run until the first week of October. He said that the president was expected to issue a Republican decree pertaining to that issue shortly. In a related development, the government Wednesday approved an agreement to build a Russian sprawling industrial zone near Port Said. The 5.25 million square metre industrial zone will be located east of Port Said in the new Suez Canal Economic Zone, a mega project launched by President Abdel Fattah El Sisi. The plan aims to create an international hub for manufacturers with easy access for exporting goods to African and European markets. The construction of the first phase of the Russian industrial zone is expected to cost around $190 million, according to a statement from the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
