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Al-Ahram Weekly 13 - 19 May 1999 Issue No. 429 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 13 - 19 May 1999 Issue No. 429
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Features Books Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Thinking globally
By Rania Khallaf
Mrs Suzanne Mubarak chaired on Tuesday a preparatory conference on social development, which aims to give a global dimension to the national vision and explore new ideas and approaches to the issue.
While social development is valued for its own sake, there are many compelling reasons to promote it for advancing economic progress. The need to modernise the human resources necessary for economic growth was the focus of the one-day conference held in Cairo by the Ministry of Social Affairs. "Egypt has been focusing many of its efforts on the social dimensions of development," Mrs Mubarak said. "Although much has been accomplished, we are aware that we still have a long way to go. We have, perhaps, reached the point at which we need to pause and review our development goals and strategies, so as to re-define them in light of our national needs and ambitions, as well as global development and experiences."
Given that there are no universal blueprints for social reform, every nation has to work out its own strategy, she said. This is the reason preparations for this conference, the aim of which is to help formulate a strategy and to build a consensus around it, have been going on for a whole year, Mrs Mubarak added.
With the success of the economic reform programme launched in 1991, Egypt decided to focus its attention on social development, for its own merit and for sustaining and reinforcing the economic reform process, she explained.
Mrs Mubarak underlined the importance of the global dimension in planning a national development strategy.
"We realise that, in view of increasing globalisation, we cannot depend on domestic socio-economic strategies alone to guarantee social protection for all our citizens and to maintain the social cohesion of our nation, but that we need to take into consideration developments on the global front," she said. "With the intensification of international communication and interdependence, no nation is insulated from the impact of major external forces that can have a negative impact on human vulnerability and development, namely: market forces and consumerism, abusive use of modern technologies, disruptive cultural norms, and such social ills as crime and drug trafficking," she added.
"Because of Egypt's historical importance, its strategic value and the size of its population, any developmental process undertaken in our country is bound to have much broader impacts that go beyond our physical boundaries. Our quest, therefore, is for strategies that would be viable within the domestic, regional and international contexts," Mrs Mubarak said. "We need to create the mechanisms and institutional arrangements for monitoring development programmes, so that we may know the extent to which our goals have been attained, the factors behind any successes or failures, the necessary changes and improvements that need to be introduced."
Mrs Mubarak welcomed the participation of foreign experts in the conference, saying that, "We are keen to share views on how global trends can influence the course of social progress in developing societies." She urged the conference to examine the opportunities of building social alliances that transcend geographic borders, ethnicity or socio-political differences.
"In these complex times, we need to travel towards the future in a wiser manner than our forebears by taking advantage of new knowledge and by translating it into meaningful advances for our nation. I am confident that with the collective vision and wisdom of such a distinguished group, the road ahead will be clearer," Mrs Mubarak concluded.
Mervat El-Tallawi, minister of social affairs, said the objective of the preparatory conference is to build a consensus around the proposals for a strategy of reform of the social sector. "Concern about unemployment is further emphasised in this conference in view of the fact that it is far more prevalent among highly-educated youths," she said. "There are also large disparities between men and women in rates of unemployment, levels of earnings, literacy and school enrollment at all educational levels. The conference will also discuss the legacy of extensive redundancies, inadequate pay and lack of commitment to the ethics of public service, which has led to inefficiencies and abuse in public bureaucracy," she commented.
El-Tallawi added that no date has been set yet for the social development conference, which will be held in Cairo and be inaugurated by President Hosni Mubarak.
Prime Minister Kamal El-Ganzouri said the government's investment in educational and health services has increased dramatically during the past 10 years. "Around 16 per cent of the national income is spent on new projects and services in the educational sector and about six per cent for health services and development of established projects," El-Ganzouri said. The prime minister also underlined the importance of taking the global dimension into consideration while evolving a national social plan for the coming millennium, in order to avoid, or diminish, future value conflicts between the developed and developing countries.
