The Canada Egypt Business Council (CEBC) and the Canadian Embassy in Cairo hosted a special event and roundtable discussion on the occasion of the visit of the Honorable Robert Ghiz to Egypt. The purpose of the meeting was to explore multilateral, regional and bilateral trade opportunities as well as to shed the light on Prince Edward Island’s strategic sectors in the spirit of cooperation towards enhancing the Egyptian-Canadian business environment. The discussion as well focused on collaboration in the field of education between Canada and Egypt.

CEBC Chairman, Mr. Motaz Raslan, started the opening remarks for the discussion by explaining that the current turmoil in the country is but an episode in the difficult transformation that Egypt is undergoing on its path to becoming a healthy democratic country. He spoke of the importance of the goodwill of Egypt’s friends at this stage in this transformation, “Canada is particularly well-positioned to be a key partner as Egypt moves forward”, Raslan said. The Chairman highlighted that with its economic power and its pioneering education systems among other areas of strength, Canada is the prime location for Egyptian entrepreneurs to look for partners. This, Raslan said, is the very purpose of the council, which is to foster prosperous and mutually beneficial trade relations between both countries.
The Chairman then left the floor to Ambassador Mahmoud El Saeed; a founding member of CEBC and a former Egyptian Ambassador to Canada, who spoke on behalf of H.E. Minister Ashraf El Araby, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation. Ambassador El Saeed read to the audience a speech, which Minister El Araby had intended to give. He thanked CEBC for its sustained efforts to enhance the trade, investment, technical and economic cooperation between Canada and Egypt. “The government is keen on furthering serious dialogue with such business group…unleashing the role of the private sector,”.

The Ambassador spoke of the early days of the bilateral relation which go back to the 1950’s, highlighting Canada’s tolerance and multiculturalism that make Canada one of the best places to live in the world. He also mentioned the Egyptian-Canadian community, which goes up to about a quarter of a million citizens, among whom are established university presidents, doctors and engineers. El Saeed commended the celebrated development achievements that covered a range of fields by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) in Egypt, which sustained between 2001–2007 the deployment of 10–12 million dollars annually in development funds.

He emphasized the difficulty of the transition Egypt is currently going through and the utmost need for its partners at a time as such as well as the importance of “effectively using financial, natural and, most importantly, human resources to serve well-defined priorities.” Among these priorities are achieving social equality, furthering inclusive economic growth and curtailing unemployment. He also referred to the negotiations between the Egyptian government and the International Monetary Fund are ongoing for the disbursement of a 4.8 billion dollar loan to Egypt.
The Ambassador pinpointed the government’s acknowledgement of the need to reassure investors and create a more business-friendly environment. “Economic stability is at the core of the present work plan”, the Ambassador said. He laid out a number of initiatives undertaken by the government in order to mitigate investor concerns about Egypt.

H.E. David Drake, the Canadian Ambassador to Egypt, assumed the floor following Ambassador El Saeed’s address. On democratic transitions in the region, Ambassador Drake said that Canada is the first country to contribute to the Deauville Partnership with Arab Countries in Transition fund. He added that the funds have already been disbursed and that they are hoping that other G8 countries would do the same.

Ambassador Drake introduced the Hon. Robert Ghiz who was born in Charlottetown in 1974. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. Hon. Ghiz served as an advisor to former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien. He became the leader of the Liberal Party in Prince Edward Island and the leader of the opposition, and led his party into victory in 2007 and 2011 and was sworn in as Premier. Ambassador Drake said that Hon. Ghiz made education a priority for his province (education is primarily the responsibility of the provinces in Canada). “At 39, he is the youngest and the longest serving Premier”, Ambassador Drake said.

Ambassador Drake also welcomed Dr. Alaa Abdel Aziz, the President of Prince Edward Island University (UPEI) who was one of the esteemed delegation accompanying the Premiere. Dr. Abdel Aziz had studied in both Egypt and Canada, and now holding such a prominent position with appreciated efforts in the field of education, adding that in this context last fall UPEI hosted 13 Ph.D. students from Ain Shams Egyptian university.

Ambassador Drake left the floor to Hon Robert Ghiz, who commenced his word speaking of his Middle Eastern roots coming from Lebanon, then his family moved to Canada in the early 1900’s. His father was the first Canadian Premier to be elected of non-European descent. He was also a Supreme Court Justice and the Dean of the Law School in Canada.

Hon. Ghiz gave a brief introduction of his province. He said that Prince Edward Island’s economy is based on agriculture, it is Canada’s largest potato producer, fisheries and tourism.. “I see collaboration and opportunity is the fact that we have an aging population …while Egypt with 25% of its population under 25, [which] is the reverse of Canada.” Hon. Ghiz explained that this makes healthcare the most important priority for Canada, and Education that of Egypt. In light of that, the Premier announced that the University of Prince Edward Island signed an MOU with 6th of October University, which facilitates offering a North American diploma to Egyptian students, and granting them access to post-secondary institutions in North America, if they choose to pursue studies there.

Also on cooperation between Egypt and Canada, Hon. Ghiz sees that immigration is a key to development in Canada and that many professionals in Canada are foreigners and particularly Egyptians.
Dr. Alaa Abdel Aziz, the President of Prince Edward Island University mentioned that UPEI has been in education for 100 years, “While the university is small in size with 5000 students, it has the best veterinary medicine faculty in Canada and probably the best aquaculture faculty in the world”.

Upon conclusions of the speeches given by the respectable guests, the floor was opened for questions. Former Minister Moushira Khattab asked a question about means of improving the quality of education, which at the moment in Egypt, “leaves a lot to be desired”, as she put it. Khattab commended the initiative between UPEI and 6 October University and suggested that a parallel initiative take place with the government, introducing civic education into Egyptian schools curricula. Other questioners posed questions around the education system and its challenges. Hon. Ghiz answered saying that communication channels have been established with the government and that he had the privilege to meet with the Egyptian Minister of Higher Education. The Premier also said that both Canada and Egypt have their own set of challenges, he spoke of bureaucratic challenges; ‘getting the bureaucratic wheel turning’ and how that is also difficult in Canada. Former Minister Dr. Ahmed Darwish commented on education and job creation and stated a stark statistic that in the next 20 years, the Arab World needs to generate 75 million jobs, while Europe will be unable to fill 50 million vacancies. He spoke of the attention that needs to be given to filling such jobs remotely and the subsequently needed infrastructure. He said that making a student employable is not sufficient as long as the job remains unreachable to him because of his location.

The discussion was a robust one, which was prompted by the beginning of yet a new synergy between Egypt and Canada. Indeed education is Egypt’s young population’s hope, especially in this time of rebuilding the second republic. Canada has demonstrated that it is a friend of Egypt that is willing to extend the hand of help and share its expertise with Egypt during its turbulent democratic transition.