On May 25, Canada Egypt Business Council (CEBC) held its ‘Annual General Meeting’ and special dinner at the Conrad Cairo Hotel with distinguished keynote speakers and guests, H.E. Dr. Hany Helal, Egypt’s Minister of Higher Education and State for Scientific Research and Canada’s Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance, Mr. Ted Menzies.

The topic addressed was “Egypt and Canada towards a Prosperous Cooperation”.

CEBC’s Chairman, Mr. Motaz Raslan started the meeting with an overview of Canada-Egypt bilateral ties, highlighting in particular the council’s participation in promoting the potential investments opportunities between the two nations. “We have always strived to create a communication channel, especially through our annual Trade Missions to Canada, which I am glad to have it this year headed by H.E. Dr. Hany Helal, Egypt’s Minister of Higher Education and State for Scientific Research and Mr. Assem Ragab, Chairman of the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI)” said Mr. Raslan.

Mr. Raslan declared that this year’s mission is covering a wide range of educational, cultural, and economical objectives, besides the Council’s main goal, which is deepening trade and investment ties in the context of Egyptian-Canadian relations through direct dialogue between the two great countries through creating an appropriate atmosphere to promote relations between governments and business societies. “This solid partnership and influential ties that are based on bilateral trade, investment and mutually shared values would rather conquer all the conflicts that were recently raised about the Agruim factory, and we are all confident that the governments of the two countries will overcome this phase and reach a solution satisfactory to all parties” noted Mr. Raslan.

Mr. Raslan, then went on explaining the significance of education as a fundamental issue of national security that the Egyptian development and reform endeavor must be directed to in the coming phase. “Without education, there will be no real renaissance in human development success and we still have a long way of hard work to go in order to reach our foreseen evolution in the field of education” said the CEBC Chairman. He also described Canada as one of the most advanced nations in the field of education, including the most significant scientific research centers in the world in all areas. In addition, Canada has the largest and most important Egyptian community globally. This community consists of 350 thousand inhabitants, including 13 Faculty Deans, 2 University Presidents, and a large number of high profile experts in the field of medicine, engineering, and science.

Mr. Raslan then introduced H.E. Ambassador Philip MacKinnon, Canada’s Ambassador to Egypt, who began his speech by commending the ability and the dedicated efforts of the business community, specially CEBC and its executive members to provide more means of Egyptian Canadian communications for creating greater investment and trade opportunities for the welfare of both countries. The Ambassador stated that Education is one of the main potential forms of cooperation between Canada and Egypt. “Despite of the presence of several Canadian schools and two Canadian Universities in Egypt, yet Egypt is considered one of the most important markets for Canadian Education in the world,” noted the Ambassador.

Mr. Ten Menzies then took the podium delivering a forceful speech outlining the close strategic ties between Canada and Egypt, mentioning the growth in bilateral trade over the past years and stating that Egypt is considered as Canada’s fifth large export market in the Middle East North African region (MENA). “Canadians realize that Egypt is an important and strategic country, a market of significant size and potential, as well as a good friend and partner on many fronts,” he said. Mr. Menzies further explained that Egypt’s position, as a hub of the Middle Eastern trade area is certainly a great potential with immense opportunities to be captured. He also eulogized the Egyptian government’s recent economic reforms and persist endeavor to further develop its engagement in the global economy and encourage it to stay the course and continue on this path.

Mr. Menzies attributed Egypt’s recent economic development to the improved exports, well-promoted tourism, and foreign investment, pointing out Egypt’s ability to achieve growth in GDP in three consecutive years. “Egypt now enjoys Free Trade agreements (FTA) with Turkey and the European Free Trade Association countries, as well as similar negotiations with the United States. Canada as a trading nation understands the importance of reaching opportunities with our Egyptian counterparts through cooperating in several sectors including agriculture, education, transportation, and information technology, in addition to oil, gas, and mining in general, that can bring prosperity for both nations”, said Mr. Menzies. Finally, he explained the benefits of doing business with Canada from the low taxes, the availability of high profile experts in a wide variety of significant industries in addition to its unique position in the North American marketplace.

H.E. Dr Hany Helal, Egypt’s Minister of Higher Education and State for Scientific Research on his keynote speech explained his anticipation for the forthcoming visit to Canada comprising around sixty members from university presidents, investment authority, governmental officials, as well as many prominent business leaders. The minister stressed on the importance of fortifying associations between these two large countries and boosting mutual investments in the fields of scientific research and human capacity development in which Canada enjoys a competitive edge.

Dr. Helal went on explaining that human capacity development is the main essence for any social and economic enhancement. He added that although our country has acquired a rate of growth exceeding 7% per annum, yet a strong need in knowledge investment is still required to better foster and transform our economy to be a knowledge based economy through developing our scientific research, education, and innovation.

The minister further explicated the government intentions to increase the budget and expenditure on higher education especially in the fields of scientific research and development, E-learning, technical and vocational education and training, as well as improving the professional quality of teaching and research curriculum to match with the international standards. “One of the most indisputable ways to achieve our ambitious education reform goal is through a system of accreditations and affiliations with high academic foreign universities allowing a joint degree from both universities and that its one of our main forms for cooperation with our Canadian counterparts during our next visit”, said the minister.

Central to this endeavor, Dr. Helal elaborated that the government in recent years is witnessing great awareness of the significance of science and technology as the second arm for the development of any economy. “The government is performing great effort to reform their policies, restructure their system. “This was done through the establishment of The Head Council for Science and Technology, headed by the Prime Minister, eight Ministers and five distinguished scientists, in addition to another three eminent businessmen and community leaders. The main task of this council is to approve and affirm the strategic plan of Science and Technology in Egypt aiming to lead our economy to a demand driven one rather than the supply driven system previously applied”, mentioned the minister.

The floor was then opened to questions regarding unemployment in relation with the higher educations skills in Egypt, International vocational and technical market needs, the mutual collaboration between Egyptian and Canadian researchers, in addition to the controversy recently raised between the Agrium Factory and the Egyptian government.