The Minister of International Cooperation Dr. Sahar Nasr and the Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Borge Brende witnessed the signing of an agreement worth USD 1.2 million between Mr. Sten Arne Rosnes, Norwegian Ambassador to Egypt, and Mr. Peter Van Rooij, Director of the International Labor Organization (ILO) Country Office in Cairo, for the implementation of the Decent Work for Young People in the Governorates of Qalyoubia and Menoufia Project, in presence of members of the European Parliament currently visiting Egypt. According to Dr. Nasr, the project aims to create decent job opportunities for young people in Egypt through implementing a number of programs in the training field with a view to increase productivity, enhance innovation and support micro and small enterprises in line with the President's declaration that 2016 is ‘the Year of Youth'.
The Minister stated that the government is strongly committed to providing job opportunities through the development of SMEs, noting that MoIC exerts efforts with its development partners to empower youth and develop their skills so that they can start their own business, besides providing them with all necessary equipment, thus improve standards of living and positively contribute to developing the society and economy.
Further, Dr. Nasr mentioned that MoIC works on securing funds for financing SMEs which represent more than 98% of enterprises in Egypt and provide more than 85% of job opportunities.
For his part, Mr. Brende indicated that young people represent the future of Egypt and that they faced significant economic challenges during the political transition period. One third of youth suffer from unemployment, thus it is necessary to identify solutions for the structural challenges on the short run.
"I am proud that today I contribute to opening up a new horizon of cooperation between Egypt and Norway through which some challenges facing young people can be addressed. We will work in collaboration with the ILO to increase job opportunities available to young people in Qalyoubia and Menoufia governorates which suffer from significant challenges with regard to job opportunities. The project depends on cooperation between the Egyptian government and the ILO and focuses on several aspects such as entrepreneurship, productivity and training for employment, besides facilitating communication with providers of financial services. I hope that this project will help youth access the labor market", added Mr. Brende.
Mr. Peter Van Rooij pointed out that the purpose of the project is to support job opportunities and the local economic development through enhancing the performance of partners to provide relevant services in targeted governorates.
The ILO seeks to support sustainable economic growth, especially youth employment. In addition, the program supports micro, small and medium enterprises in targeted sectors and governorates, added Mr. Rooij.
