Dr. Khaled Okasha General Manager

Dr. Abdel-Moneim Said Academic advisor

Editor Belal Manzour

Translators Asmaa El-Shafei Omnia El-Sayed Mariam Khaled

General Coordinator Mai Saeed

Art direction Eslam Ali Index

Introduction: 4 Building the Egyptian Human Being

I. Developing the Health Sector 6

II. Developing the Education Sector 12

III. Economic Policies 16

IV. Political Life 22

V. Developing Border Regions 24

VI. Fourth-Generation Cities 28

VII. Developing the Transport System 32

VIII. Developments in the Security and 36 Military Field

IX. Egypt’s Foreign Policy 40

X. Energy Projects and the East 46 Mediterranean Gas Forum

XI. Egypt’s Role in Africa 52

Research Team (Alphabetically) Ahmed Bayoumi Heba Zean Dr. Mohamed Shadi Amal Ismail Hussein Abd Elrady Mohammed Mansour Asmaa Fahmy Kenzy Serge Moustafa Abdella Basant Gamal Mahmoud Qassem Dr. Omar El-Hosseiny Ferdous Abdelbaki Mohamed Abdelrazeq Rahma Hassan Hala Fouda Mohamed Hassan Tokka ELnaggar Introduction

Building the Egyptian Human Being

gypt has been taking solid resolute steps toward drafting a new social contract since the 30 June 2013 Revolution. The contract addresses the mistakes of the past, all the Ewhile working according to a strategy that takes into account several security, polit- ical, economic and social factors.

In this context, the concept of the New Republic represents a comprehensive framework and the philosophy adopted by the Egyptian state, based on a set of principles that are founded on two main pillars.

The first is that socioeconomic development is a prerequisite for political development, which is the foundation for the stability of the state and its institutions and the sustainability of the social fabric. Working in tandem on all the aspects of development in a manner in which every sector serves the others is meant to achieve integration between all the plans for development.

The second pillar is the comprehensive concept of human rights, which is the basis of Egypt’s New Republic. Such foundation sets the standards enshrined in the third gener- ation of human rights – such as the political, civil, economic, and social rights as well as sustainable development – for the work of institutions and is declared one of the goals of any national or societal project.

Accordingly, the Egyptian state and society are not functioning separately from human rights. Rather, the country takes human rights as the launching pad for its developmental efforts. Furthermore, development is a guarantor of political stability and ensures the pres- ence of a social structure that supports the sustainable practice of democratic mechanisms and avoids the drawbacks that occurred in societies the world over following the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

Hence, this publication delves into the aspects of the New Republic that focuses on the work of state institutions, civil society and individuals to foster human development efforts, honing the skills of the workforce, and improving the lives of citizens by targeting plans for developing the education and health sectors on a primary scale.

In addition, the New Republic works according to an economic reform scheme that con- tributes to backing the state’s other sectors in order to, ultimately, support Egypt’s compre- hensive development at home and abroad by establishing an independent foreign policy

4 | The New Republic: Egypt’s Philosophy of Development that targets achieving development for all the parties involved on the basis of justice, the fair distribution of resources, and guaranteeing Egypt’s national security. It is also meant to present Egypt’s vision of dealing with development and conflict issues by reviewing the country’s efforts in Africa and the establishment of the East Mediterranean Gas Organization.

The New Republic is based on the concept of building the human with the aim of improving people’s living conditions in order to boost their capacity to carry out their political, economic, and social duties, and with the aspiration of changing the mindset, attitude, management systems, and ways of life for the better.

In 2019, this approach was materialized with the launch of “Decent Life” initiative aimed at providing a decent standard of living for the neediest groups in villages, rural districts, and urban slums through promoting decent housing, upgrading facilities and public services, providing financial support to the neediest families, opening up job opportunities for youth in small and medium enterprises, and providing quality healthcare and emergency surgeries.

Upon launching Decent Life initiative, the state called for a concerted effort between state agencies, civil society institutions, and private businesses, allocating EGP 103 billion for implementing the initiative in eleven governorates. During the year 2020, ‘Decent Life’ was declared a non-profit organization tasked with accomplishing the objectives of the initiative announced by President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi in 2019. Decent Life initiative brought together around 23 civil institutions that closely collaborated to fulfil the set objectives. In early 2021, the President expanded the scope of the initiative to cover the entire Egyptian countryside, comprising of 4741 villages and 30888 village tracts, home to close to 58 million citizens. This expansion gave rise to the “National Project to Develop Rural areas”, which is worth more than EGP 600 billion.

In this vein, it should be noted that Egypt has commended efforts in this area based on the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (UN 17 SDG) and even went further developing its own strategy for sustainable development, i.e. Egypt Vision 2030, which focuses on:

ƒ Improving quality of life and standard of living of the Egyptian citizens in all aspects of life, by consolidating principles of social justice, ensuring participation of all citizens in political and social life, achieving an inclusive and sustainable economic growth that guarantees a decent life for all, and promoting investment in human beings and building their creativity by promoting increased knowledge, innovation, and scientific research in all areas. Egypt’s Vison 2030 also supports the engagement of all groups in development including the private sector and civil society institutions and gives a high priority to climate change and environment related issues.

The Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies | 5 I. Developing the Health Sector

eveloping Egypt’s clinics to keep pace with health sector has the development of health Dbeen a top priority services, and developing for President Abdel-Fat- the health workforces and tah Al-Sisi ever since he 2) introducing a package came to power in 2014, of urgent health reforms, being one of the most vi- consisting of numerous tal sectors affecting the health initiatives aimed bulk of Egypt’s popula- at raising efficiency and tion. Egypt’s efforts in improving service level this aspect were directed provided to citizens tar- towards two main areas: geting citizens of all ages, 1) rehabilitation of the starting from children to health infrastructure, de- elder population. velopment of rural health

6 | The New Republic: Egypt’s Philosophy of Development Achievements in the Health Sector (Decent Life initiative projects included). ƒ Completing 632,027 surgeries under the Between 2014 and 2020, Egypt managed to presidential “Waiting Lists” initiative, implement 960 projects in the health and making a total of 632,677 beneficiaries. population sector, with total investments ƒ Developing University Hospitals (113 uni- of about EGP 82 billion. The most notable versity hospitals were developed up from achievements in this area have been the 88 in 2014). implementation of about 200 projects for ƒ Launching health-related initiatives developing general hospitals and medical aimed at strengthening the capacity of institutions, 40 projects directed towards the health facilities to provide outstanding Egyptian Ambulance Organization, and 19 medical services while combating the projects aimed at developing model hospitals, coronavirus, increasing university hos- in addition to developing health clinics and pitals’ coverage in governorates, and es- undertaking about 25 initiatives inside Egypt tablishing an electronic health register for and 13 others to support the health sector in hospital admissions. Africa. Above and beyond, the following steps ƒ Achieving self-sufficiency of locally pro- have been taken to bolster the health sector: duced insulin and localization of oncolog- ic drugs, serums, and vaccines industry. ƒ Directing massive investments of more ƒ Launching and implementing a universal than EGP 120 billion into improving the health insurance scheme in selected gov- health sector. ernorates, with 3.6 million citizen regis- ƒ Brining about an increase in invest- tered, so far, on the system. ments directed toward the Ministry of ƒ Issuing more than 2.913 million treatment Health’s (MoH) projects the next fiscal decisions at the State’s expense. year 2022/2022, to reach EGP 47.5 billion ƒ Providing 20 million formula packs and hav- – a 205% increase compared to 2020/2021 ing a strategic stockpile of five million packs.

The Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies | 7 abetes and 10 million diagnosed with high Presidential Initiatives Under “100 blood pressure. The total cost of the initia- Million Healthy Lives” Campaign tive was estimated at EGP 4 billion.

According to the statement of Dr. Hala 2. The Presidential Initiative for Early De- Zayed, Egypt’s Minister of Health, to the ple- tection of Anemia, Obesity and Dwarf- nary session in the Parliament, the number ism and Improvement of Maternal and of beneficiaries of the Presidential health Fetal Health initiatives reached nearly 90 million cit- izens, with a total of 102 million visits to Under this initiative, 22 million school stu- hospitals. The most notable health initia- dents were examined, where 3, 4000,367 tives are: cases of obesity, 7,594,357 cases of anemia, and 10,657,036 cases of dwarfism were dis- 1. “100 Million Healthy Lives” Initiative to covered, and treatment has been provided Eradicate Hepatitis C and Early Detect to all cases by linking 300 clinics to the ini- Non-Communicable Diseases tiative’s online system. Additionally, medi- cal services were provided to 498,837 wom- For years, Egypt has been one of the coun- en and an integrated system for detection tries with the highest prevalence rates of of vertically transmitted infection has been hepatitis C. With President Al-Sisi taking developed at a cost of EGP 31 million. Yield- office, Egypt waged a war against hepatitis C ed tangible results of the initiative included by launching the “100 Million Healthy Lives” protecting 2.5 million children from hep- initiative for early detection of hepatitis C atitis-B diseases, spirochetes, and HIV and and free treatment of HCV patients. Efforts reducing rates of vertically transmitted in- of the initiative brought hepatitis C prev- fections from 45 percent to 2 percent only. alence rate to 7 percent in 2018, down to 2 percent in 2020, which puts Egypt on track 3. The Presidential Initiative for Screen- to get the international recognition of being ing and Treatment of Chronic Diseases hepatitis-free. Further to this, under the ini- and Early Detection of Kidney Diseases tiative aimed at early detection of non-com- municable diseases, 50 million citizens have This initiative was launched in parallel with undergone a comprehensive medical survey, efforts to combat the coronavirus pandem- where treatment was provided to 1.8 million ic. Under the initiative, 24 million citizens of the screened citizens diagnosed with di- were screened and provided free treatment,

8 | The New Republic: Egypt’s Philosophy of Development 180 dialysis units were either replaced or Egypt’s Universal Health Insurance renewed, and 2600 dialysis machines and System (UHIS) Project 1000 wheel chairs were provided in collab- oration with the Tahya Misr Fund. The total Egypt’s UHIS project was first launched in cost of the initiative was estimated at EGP Port Said governorate. Currently, 600,000 714 million. The outcome of the initiative citizens are registered on the system and 3 resulted in provision of medical services to million medical services have been provid- patients of chronic diseases with a total cost ed, including 2.2 million family medicine of EGP 3 billion per year and providing treat- services, 500,000 outpatient clinics servic- ment to patients with those diseases at EGP es, and 30,000 surgeries. A pilot operation 13 billion per year. of the system has been initiated in the rest of phase-one governorates, with a total of 4. The Presidential Initiative to Detect and 3,635,000 registered citizens. Treat Hearing Loss and Impairment in Newborns Supportive Legislation Since the launch of this initiative in Sep- tember 2019, a total of 2,298,095 children The most important legislation that were were examined, 81,794 children were issued toward developing the health sector moved to the second phase of medical as- were: 1) the Health Professions Amendment sessment, and 7,922 children were trans- Act which provides for increasing allowanc- ferred to hospitals for further evaluation. es given to medical professionals, 2) estab- Additionally, an integrated infrastructure lishment of the Compensation Fund for the for early detection of hearing impairment Risks of Medical Professions, 3) the Medi- have been developed where health clinics cal Practitioners Amendment Act to ensure have been provided with 3,500 tone-emit- physicians get necessary training to obtain ting otoscopes and 3 audiometers at a cost a medical license, ensuring patient safety, 3) of EGP 120 million. a cabinet resolution to identify the poor for premium exemption, 4) the Mental Health 5. The Presidential Initiative to Improve Amendment Act, and 5) the Emergency Re- Egyptian Women’s Health sponse Fund Bill, aimed at securing sus- tainable funding for providing prevention, The initiative is intended to decrease the treatment, and rehabilitation services to mortality rate of breast cancer, reduce citizens. the economic burden on the government through early detection of the disease, spread of health awareness, setting up the Preventive Services infrastructure for oncology treatment in Egypt as a complement to Egypt’s Univer- Under the Expanded Programme on Immu- sal Health Insurance System, and enhanc- nization, preventive services were support- ing women’s outreach to the primary care ed. The outbreak of COVID-19 has materially units. Since the launch of the initiative in affected Immunization programs in most July 2019, 11,504,037 women were exam- countries; however, Egypt was able to main- ined, 2,848 women of whom have received tain routine immunization services and man- treatment, up from only 2.5 million women aged to secure a sufficient stockpile of formu- in the period from 2007 to 2019, where there la packs. Moreover, hepatitis C compulsory has been no system for follow-up. vaccination was introduced with a coverage rate of over 90 percent, where, during the

The Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies | 9 year, 17 million children were routinely vac- treatments. After five months of care- cinated against Measles and Rubella under ful examination of the plan, President the national campaign for immunization. Al-Sisi gave the go-ahead for the project, realizing its substantial importance. The In conformity with the World Health Or- project shall be carried out collaborative- ganization’s advocacy in May 2016, Egypt ly between the Academy of Scientific Re- switched from the trivalent oral polio vac- search, Ministries of Defense, Health and cine (tOPV) to the bivalent oral polio vaccine Communications, over 15 universities (bOPV). In this respect, the MoH decided to and research centers, and civil society vaccinate children born in the period from institutions, with a total budget of EGP 2 1/1/2016 to 22/3/2018 with Salk vaccine. In billion for studying the genetic material February 2020, the MoH started vaccinat- of thousands of Egyptians. ing Egyptian and foreign children under five with the bivalent oral vaccine where over 16.5 million children were vaccinated Confronting COVID-19 Pandemic through a door-to-door vaccination cam- and the Local Manufacturing of paign implemented by more than 45,000 COVID Vaccine mobile teams with a total cost of EGP 1.186 billion during the fiscal year 2019/2020. The outbreak of the Coronavirus pandem- ic has posed a major challenge to health systems worldwide. In Egypt, the govern- The Egyptian Genome Reference ment made every possible effort to face this crisis, taking proactive and preventive The Genome Reference project, launched measures to respond to the pandemic. Some by the President in March 2021, in con- hospitals have been set aside for screen- sidered of the largest and most signifi- ing and isolating infected and suspected cant medical projects that would bring COVID cases. In regards to the vaccine, a about a paradigm shift in Egypt’s health committee, chaired by the Prime Minister sector and improve the quality of life and comprising representatives of relevant and public health of the Egyptians. The ministries, has been set up to study the project leverages the latest technology agreements signed with vaccine manu- to determine the genetic basis of many facturers. Additionally, a memorandum of diseases, making it easier to diagnose understanding has been signed between and treat genetic diseases and some of Egypt and China to promote bilateral co- the most common non-communicable operation between the two countries in diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases research, development, and production and cancer. areas. Egypt has also succeeded in taking the first step toward locally manufacturing The launch of this project is an impor- an anti-coronavirus vaccine, and it received tant step toward building a comprehen- the first batch of raw materials for the local sive knowledge base on the Egyptian Ge- manufacture of the Chinese Sinovac vac- nome, through which personal genomes cine, with a total of 1400 liters, sufficient and common and unique Egyptian genes to produce about 2 million doses. can be studied and their relation to the molecular basis of genetic diseases can be identified. The end outcome would be the ability to address these diseases and develop precision medicine tools and

10 | The New Republic: Egypt’s Philosophy of Development The Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies | 11 II. Developing the Education Sector

he The New Repub- geared towards expand- lic’s vision for the ing the establishment of Tdevelopment of edu- educational institutions, cation is based on Egypt’s engaging stakeholders, Vision 2030, which aims training qualified human at improving the quality resources, decentraliz- of education, making it ing education, promot- available for all, and in- ing the role of research creasing its competitive- centers, strengthening ness toward achieving ties with labour market, the sustainable develop- and achieving educational ment goals. To that end, equivalence with interna- Egypt has developed mul- tional standards. ti-dimensional programs

12 | The New Republic: Egypt’s Philosophy of Development Infrastructure Projects tricably linked to the labour market (30% desk study, 70% practice). These programs In view of these goals, 177 projects were car- are generally focused on recent and emerg- ried out in 27 universities to improve the ing fields including renewable energy, com- Egyptian universities’ informational infra- munications and information, and auto- structure. Also, four universities have been motive electronics, etc. built in governorates in need of university services including the New Valley, Marsa Matruh, and Luxor, bringing the total num- National Universities ber of public universities in Egypt to 27. Similarly, the number of colleges has been As for national (non-profit) universities, increased to 494 colleges and institutes four national universities (Galala, King –a 23.2 percent (93 colleges) increase over Salman, Al Alamein, and New Al-Mansou- 2014/2015. To advance diversity in higher ra University) have been established. Ad- education, 188 new labour market-relat- ditionally, there has been an expansion of ed programs have been introduced (a 59 twinning and international accreditation percent increase) in government univer- programmes in a large number of Egyptian sities. The number of private universities universities besides opening branches of increased as well by 17 universities and 32 many foreign universities in Egypt. All of colleges relative to 2014/2015. these efforts were made in conjunction with the increase in higher education and scien- tific research budget by 160 percent, rising Establishing Technological Univer- to EGP 65 billion in 2021 relative to EGP 25 sities billion in 2015.

In parallel, the same period saw an increase in the number of technological universi- International Ranking of Egyptian ties and work is underway to establish new Universities ones. Technological universities provide an educational pathway aimed at filling According to SCImago Institutions Rank- the gap between engineers and labourers ings, Egypt has the highest number of through designing programs that are inex- universities among the African and Arab

The Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies | 13 countries listed in the index and it rose dicator to 3 out of 4 in 2030 among others. in academic publishing ranking to finish As a complement to these efforts, Egypt’s Vi- 32nd on the list in 2019. Turning to the US sion 2030 proposed a number of programs News ranking, Egypt came first among Af- for developing technical education focusing rican and Arab countries with the highest on expanding partnerships with the private number of universities and jumped 9 ranks sector, enhancing infrastructure quality, in the quality of education indicator from improving the societal perception of tech- the 42nd rank in 2020. Similarly, Egypt was nical education, strengthening ties with la- ranked first among African and Arab coun- bour market, and providing graduates with tries with the highest number of universi- licenses-to-practice which contributes to ties in the Times Higher Education World developing competencies and enhancing University Rankings with a total of 20 uni- students’ performance. versities. Moreover, the number of Egyptian universities listed in the QS World Ranking As for the current technical schools, a broad increased by 10 percent, bringing the num- development plan have been executed to ber of Egyptian universities listed to 22 up increase their efficiency and develop the from 20 in 2019. Also, Egypt has advanced human resources. The President issued di- 10 ranks in the Global Knowledge Index, to rectives to establish an independent body the 72nd place relative to the 82nd in 2019. for accreditation of technical education programs and an academy for training and rehabilitation of technical education teach- Technical Education ers across governorates. During the last six years, 6079 schools have been equipped, Technical education has witnessed a major 4,098 classrooms have been developed, and breakthrough where a number of quanti- 11 technical schools have been established. tative indicators have been developed in- Establishing additional 89 schools is target- cluding an increase in the percentage of ed by 2030. outstanding students enrolled in techni- cal education to 20 percent, increased job opportunities to 80 percent, availability of Pre-university Education vocational licenses to technical education graduates, and a projected higher rank in With regard to pre-university education, the World Bank vocational and technical in- it has seen significant progress in the

14 | The New Republic: Egypt’s Philosophy of Development Pre-university Education Index, rising from the 110th place in 2018 to the 94th in 2019. This enhancement has been brought about by two-pronged action: 1) improvements in the intellectual capital and the increase in primary and higher education enrollment, and 2) creating an enabling environment for education, where Egypt’s rank in this aspect rose from 115th to 103rd in 2018 and 2019, respectively. This could be attributed to several factors including the enhanced spending on education, improvement of early childhood programs, and the im- sented a major achievement that was given proved school environment. rise to on the margins of President Al-Si- si’s visit to Japan in 2016, after signing an Another notable success in the education agreement with Japan to build 100 Japanese sector was introducing international stand- schools in Egypt. The Japanese schools ard education, where Egypt established came into operation simultaneously with international public schools that adopt a introducing a new education reform pro- British curriculum and offer International gramme known as Education 2.0 (EDU 2.0). General Certificate of Secondary Education To date, the number of Japanese schools in (IGCSE). Nile International Schools were the Egypt reached 40 schools. Egypt’s educa- first model of international schools intro- tion system is open to all types of schools duced by the government to offer an inter- providing quality education which encour- nationally recognized Egyptian certificate, aged international schools to increase their i.e. Certificate of Nile International Second- branches in Egypt, rising from 168 to 795 in ary Education (CNISE). In 2018, under direc- 2001 and 2020. tives of the political leadership, Nile Schools were introduced nationwide supported by This great diversity among schools with Tahya Misr Fund. some of them offering national curricula in Arabic or in English or offering internation- Introducing International Baccalaureate al curricula contributes to improving the (IB) program marked a major shift in the quality of the educational outcomes. Com- educational system. IB schools were intro- petition between educational institutions duced in partnership with the World Bacca- allows for a higher level of quality. Now, the laureate Foundation and Green Land Educa- government is also expanding in opening tional Foundation with the aim of keeping international schools, in response to the in- pace with the global education develop- creasing demand for this type of education, ments. These schools, numbering 8 since and to control the mechanisms that govern launched in 2014, offer the IGCSE or IB cur- provision of this service. Despite the signifi- riculum. Egypt has also 11 STEM schools cance of this effort, it remains, however, an that provide tailored educational programs ancillary solution that is being adopted till for high performers in science and math in the education reform project is fully imple- partnership with the U.S. Agency for Inter- mented based on the requirements of the national Development (USAID). New Republic.

The Tokkatsu education system, otherwise known as the Japanese schools, also repre-

The Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies | 15 III. Economic Policies

n the aftermath of the rates declined, inflation 25 January Revolution, and unemployment rates IEgypt suffered an eco- went up, foreign invest- nomic crunch that was ments were repelled, and threatening the entity of domestic investments came the state itself. Growth to a halt.

16 | The New Republic: Egypt’s Philosophy of Development As a result, the general budget suffered pound caused foreign exchange reserves to a great burden as expenses increased and fall to $16.69 billion (one-third of Egypt’s im- refvenues plummeted, causing the deficit port needs), and this affected Egypt’s ability and public debt to rise and cash reserves to to meet its basic needs (fuel, food). decrease to record lows. With President Ab- del-Fattah Al-Sisi taking office, he adopted Following the 30 June revolution, the polit- a broad economic reform program called ical leadership realized the need to address the “Structural Adjustment Program”, which these structural problems, and hence came included introducing financial, monetary, the decision of entering into a partnership and structural reforms to the laws pertain- with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) ing to the business environment in Egypt. to implement a comprehensive economic These reforms brought about a significant reform program, the monetary part of which improvement in Egypt’s overall economic entailed liberalization of exchange rate, performance and the country was able to which contributed to maintaining stability maintain a positive growth rate during the of the Egyptian pound, stopping its collapse, pandemic. Such ambitious program helped preventing currency black market activity, move toward establishing the New Republic. and increasing foreign exchange reserves to reach $30 billion after less than 6 months of the flotation decision. Key Monetary Indicators Despite the high inflation rate (35 percent in Looking at the monetary-level policies, we 2017) due to the liberalization of the exchange find that, before the 30 June Revolution, the rate, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) raised Egyptian economy suffered stagflation, a the interest rate (its highest rate reached 19.75 situation in which both inflation and unem- percent in July 2017) and was able to control ployment rates go up, and in Egypt’s case the inflation rates to return to normal levels in domestic product (GDP) reached low levels the two years following the liberalization de- (an average rate of 2.2 percent from 2012- cision, causing inflation rates to fell again to 2014), coinciding with an increase in infla- stand now at about 5 percent (the CBE targets tion rates standing at about 12 percent, and an inflation rate of 7 percent, ±2 percent), and persistently high unemployment rate reach- the Egyptian pound exchange rate against ing about 13 percent. The monetary policies the U.S. dollar returned to a more contained aimed at protecting the value of the Egyptian value of EGP 15.6 in May 2021.

The Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies | 17 During the past seven years, the CBE an amount of EGP 100 billion at a decreasing launched a large number of initiatives interest rate of 8 percent. aimed at revitalizing the economy, includ- ing initiatives to support small and medi- um enterprises by offering them funding at Key Fiscal Indicators a low interest rate of 5 percent, obligating banks to allocate 20 percent of their loan Egypt’s fiscal policies witnessed a slump portfolios for the development of that sec- from January 2011 to June 2013, where tor, launching the “Pioneers of the Nile” in- there has been significant increases in ex- itiative to support entrepreneurs, reducing penses, particularly the salaries item (25 the minimum revenue required of the agri- percent), debt interest (25 percent) and cultural sector business to get incentives to subsidies (25 percent). Wages have risen start from EGP 250,000, and launching a EGP at an annual rate of about 17 percent due 5 billion initiative to support the tourism of the political unrest which encouraged sector at an interest rate of 10 percent, and factional demands. Debt and interest rates another EGP 100 billion initiative to support increased by 21.5 percent, while subsidies the real estate sector. Even during the pan- allocations rose by an annual average of demic, the CBE was able to maintain the key 13.5 percent during the same period. As for monetary indicators at stabilization levels public revenues, taxes has grown at an an- (inflation rate at 5 percent, foreign exchange nual rate of 15 percent and Egypt received reserves stood at $40.2 billion, exchange rate grants of about EGP 18 billion. These large at 15.6 pounds per dollar) by making a num- increases in expenditures and the slow- ber of substantive decisions including defer- down in growth of revenues resulted in a ring all credit dues for all customers whether rise in the total and primary deficit in gen- corporates or individuals, cancellation of eral budget, with a primary deficit of EGP fees applied to points of sale and cash with- 90 billion (5.3 percent), and a total deficit drawals from ATMs and electronic wallets, of EGP 237 billion (13.70 percent). raising the amount of funds allocated to the tourism sector initiative to EGP 50 billion at After the 30 June revolution, the economic an interest rate of 8 percent, and supporting situation was completely changed, although the industrial and agricultural sector with the wages item of expenses sustained a high

18 | The New Republic: Egypt’s Philosophy of Development increase of 20 percent during the period from vour of the most deserving groups by reduc- 2013 to 2015. However, these increases have ing fuel subsidies and redirecting them to levelled off at 5 percent in the period from food subsidy (the share of fuel subsidy from 2015 to 2018 as a result of the restructuring total subsidy allocations decreased from 64 carried out within the economic reform pro- percent in 2012 to 17 percent in 2020) and gram. In the period from 2018 to 2020, wages social security pension programs. increased by 13 percent as the Egyptian econ- omy achieved growth rates above 5 percent, As for public revenues, and the most im- which was reflected in the improvement of portant item of which here is taxes. Tax- real wages. Similarly, interests and debts in- es increased at an average of 17 percent creased, and these increases could be attrib- during the period from 2015 to 2020 (in- uted to government investment spending creased from EGP 364 billion to EGP 856 on national projects that took place during billion), as a result of developments in the the period from 2014 to 2021. The average electronic tax system through which tax increase in interest and debt rates reached 21 services are provided. The e-system uti- percent, rising from EGP 199 billion in 2014 lizes artificial intelligence applications to to EGP 569 billion in 2020. automate public sector activities which helped reduce tax evasion and time taken These increases are viewed positively, since in complying with the relevant tax legisla- those debts and interests were spent on in- tions. This contributed to improving the frastructure projects that will contribute to business environment and Egypt’s rank- creating economic boom and promoting in- ing in the Doing Business Index – which vestment in Egypt, which would ultimately went up from 128 in 2018 to 114 in 2019. As lead to an increase in revenues (taxes), and a result, the general budget achieved a pri- hence a reduction in the primary and total mary surplus of EGP 14 billion in the year public deficit. 2017-2018, EGP 106 billion in the year 2018- 2019, and EGP 129 billion in 2019-2020 (1.8 As for the subsidy allocations, they also in- percent) and a decrease in the total budget creased, growing by an average of 11 percent. deficit going down to 7.9 percent. Subsidy allocations have undergone a re- structuring process to be distributed in fa-

The Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies | 19 Key Sectoral Indicators contracts were signed with major interna- tional companies. Regarding the sectoral policies, the system of allocation of industrial land has developed Process industries have also seen significant through launch of the Industrial Land Bank developments, causing the sector’s share to by the Industrial Development Authority, the economy to grow from 15.6 percent in with 2,000 parcels of different sizes available 2017 to 16.2 percent in 2019, with the private for purchase. This system has contributed to sector accounting for the largest share of in- addressing the main issues facing industrial vestments in that sector, i.e. 70 percent. Rec- lands activities, namely brokerage and squat- ognizing the importance of this sector, the ting. In addition, designating the Industrial previous seven years witnessed the launch Development Authority as the exclusive in- of the presidential initiative to establish dustrial licensing body contributed to over- industrial complexes, which included the coming obstacles related to multiplicity of establishment of 1,657 units in 7 industrial authorities involved in the process. zones out of 13 industrial zones. As for the technology industry, the Technology and In- The gold industry, too, gained considerable novation Industrial Council was established interest after President Al-Sisi issued his di- with the aim of placing Egypt on the global rectives to the government to provide the technology manufacturing stage towards financial resources needed to establish an localizing the technology industry. integrated city for the gold industry, which provides services such as provision of in- Over the past seven years, the agricultural dustry inputs, production and exhibitions sector has also seen dramatic developments requirements, and labour training. This with Egypt adopting a plan to enhance food decision came after the legislative amend- security and sustainable agricultural growth ments introduced to this sector with the within Egypt’s Vision 2030. The plan in- aim of encouraging investors to increase cluded promoting the growth of agricultur- their investments As such, five gold-mining al land, rationalizing water use, increasing

20 | The New Republic: Egypt’s Philosophy of Development agricultural land reclamation, encouraging contributed to the improvement of Egypt’s the private sector to make its investments rank in the Doing Business Index as has been in the sector, and finally transferring tech- previously indicated. nology and capacity-building in cultivating lands . Within this framework, a broad ac- Furthermore, these intensive efforts helped tion plan has been drawn up that included reinforce the pillars of the Egyptian economy, improving the irrigation system, canals and taking it out of the woods after the tough drains, mechanizing of agricultural opera- time it went through before 2013. The per- tions, increasing the agricultural area, and formance of the Egyptian economy has been establishing agriculture-related industries commended by a number of international in all governorates to ensure a balanced de- financing institutions, which raised Egypt’s velopment across Egypt. credit rating to stable. The International Mon- etary Fund praised the performance of the All of these efforts contributed to boosting Egyptian economy for its ability to achieve foreign direct investment, which rose from growth rates greater than 5 percent in the years $3.7 billion in 2013 to over $6 billion in the preceding the pandemic (5.6 percent for 2019, period from 2015 to 2017, reaching more than 5.3 percent for 2018) and flexibility in terms of $7 billion between the years 2018-2020 – the its ability to grow amid the pandemic by 3.6 highest rate in Africa. Most of these invest- percent (actual growth rate of 2.7 percent) at ments have been in the oil, energy, and gas a time when most global economies were suf- sectors. Egypt’s efforts in this sector contribut- fering an economic recession. This led major ed to transforming Egypt into a regional center international banks (i.e. Standard Chartered) for energy trading that Egypt was chosen to be to expect Egypt to be among the ten largest the headquarters of the East Mediterranean economies in the world by 2030. The Egyptian Gas Forum. This has been also the reward of economy, with the reforms it has undergone, efforts focusing on amending investment-re- the marked improvement in its performance, lated legislation, (such as the Investment and its ability to overcome severe crises such Law, Companies Law, and Bankruptcy Law), as the Corona pandemic –which represented increasing investments in transportation and a real test of the economy’s strength– make technology infrastructure, and promoting Egypt ready to declare the launch of a New cooperation and institutional integration Republic building upon a strong economy between state agencies to eliminate obstacles capable of providing a decent life for citizens that encounter investors, all of which have and competing regionally and globally.

Volume of foreign direct investments (2009/2010-2019/2020*) (million dollars)

The Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies | 21 IV. Political Life

gypt’s 2020 legisla- pert Council) and defined tive elections repre- its terms of reference to in- Esented a significant clude powers to study and milestone in Egypt’s dem- propose what it deems nec- ocratic path. The elections essary to consolidate foun- witnessed the return of dations of democracy and normalcy to the second support social peace, the chamber of Parliament (the basic components of the Senate) under the 2019 con- society, its supreme val- stitutional amendments, ues, rights, freedoms and which gave the Council ex- public duties, and deepen tensive powers that are, in the democratic system and their entirety, of an adviso- expand its aspects. ry nature (more of an Ex-

22 | The New Republic: Egypt’s Philosophy of Development This had been the second election in Egypt since it entered a new era following the 30 June revo- lution. The elections were held amid exceptional circumstances with the spread of the pandemic. However, with the improvement in trust indicators and the decline in threats, issues of representation and participation tend to come top of the priority agenda. Together, these considerations gave the 2020 elections a particular importance, as it came to prove the willingness and ability with regards to representatives of the par- of Egypt to complete the process that started ties or independents. The representation of in the 30 June Revolution toward stability youth in Parliament has also improved sig- through building the State’s institutions to nificantly after the 25 January revolution, regain confidence. The elections have also pro- and this representation rate continued to vided an ample evidence of Egypt’s determi- increase to reach over 20 percent in 2020. nation to complete the democratic transition, It is worth noting that the Coordination of thereby asserting the role of the legislative Youth Parties and Politicians was established institution in stabilizing and strengthening nearly two years ago and it includes youth the pillars of the state, rationalizing the deci- from 27 parties. The number of members of sion-making process, and encouraging active the Coordination in the Senate reached 11 participation of citizens. members, representing 3.7 percent of total members, and 28 seats in the Parliament, In this context, it can be said that activating representing 5 percent of total members. the participation of citizens was not only re- flected in the turnout rate in the elections Also, representation of Copts in Parliament held since the 30 June Revolution but in the has also increased. In the 2015 Parliament, procedures taken and policies adopted to there has been an increase in the number empower groups that have suffered political of seats Copts obtained, reaching 39 seats – marginalization for decades. This has been under the 2014 Constitution’s affirmation evidenced by the unprecedented high rep- of the need for Copts to be adequately rep- resentation rate of women, youth, Copts and resented in the Parliament to ensure their people with disabilities in Parliament. proper representation. In the 2020 parlia- ment, this has been translated into a rep- On the other hand, the 2020 elections resentation of 37 Coptic members in the Par- marked an important milestone in consol- liament and 24 members in the Senate. idating stability and expanding the circle of partisan participation. The elections wit- Moreover, the parliamentary life in Egypt nessed the participation of about a third of witnessed for the first time of Egypt’s politi- the Egyptian parties, and a number of these cal life, a positive discrimination in favor of parties were able to bridge the intellectual people with disabilities, with them winning and ideological differences and managed to 8 seats in the 2015 and 2020 parliaments form electoral alliances and combine party (elected by list)*. lists for elections. Parliament saw a renewal and a change in its composition, whether * Dr. Sobhy Essaila, editor of “Parliamentary elections 2020: Boosting stability and a launching point” publication, the Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies (ECSS), 2021.

The Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies | 23 V. Developing Border Regions

oward establishing ades. Accordingly, the New the New Republic, Republic vision in this as- TEgypt worked to de- pect is based on two main velop areas that had been characteristics: 1) focusing marginalized for years. attention on the borders These included Sinai, the and not just the center, and Western axis, and the Suez 2) implementing develop- Canal axis. The develop- ment plans to promote na- ment of these areas has tional security and push been of a special concern the center to play its role to the political leadership sustainably. and society for three dec-

24 | The New Republic: Egypt’s Philosophy of Development Development in Sinai* that would benefit from the huge resources in Sinai, and, promoting investments that will Sinai has received a massive expenditure ex- not only help the Sinai citizens stay in their ceeding EGP 600 billion, that were directed to land, but also attract inhabitants through the developing its infrastructure –by linking it to industrial sector to integrate Sinai into the the valley and the Nile Delta through a network economic entity of the rest of the Egyptian of tunnels extending under the waters of the regions and regions through development Suez Canal, complemented by a brand new work that is carried out along the axis of the 600km network of bridges and roads to link Suez Canal. it to the valley in addition to establishing 20 water desalination plants to provide water that And whereas the human being is the en- would serve development purposes and make gine and goal of development, there has the area habitable. As for now, 65 percent of the been a need to increase the number of project has been implemented with an annual schools, universities, and hospitals. The production capacity of 600 million cubic meters National Project for the Development of at a cost of EGP 13 billion. Concurrently, and Sinai aims at increasing the number of in an effort to develop and raise the efficiency hospital beds to 6,000 beds to keep pace of the electricity network in North and South with the expected increase in population Sinai, a number of renewable energy plants besides establishing 55 public hospitals and projects have been completed, to provide and 23 private hospitals. Thus, projects in the energy needed for the different economic Sinai were implemented geographically activities, whether in industry, tourism, or across two regions: agriculture. These development projects were also aimed at stimulating productive sectors 1. Projects in North Sinai

* Mr. Mohammed Maree, editor of “Sinai: A new vision for development 20142020-” publication, the Egyptian Currently, there are 18 projects underway Center for Strategic Studies (ECSS), 2020 in North Sinai, chief among them are the

The Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies | 25 new city of Rafah, Gabal Al-Galala project, Sustainable Development in the projects to build schools, and the project to Western Axis** establish a marble factories complex. The government has paid due attention to 2. Projects in South Sinai governorates of the Western region to sup- port their economic structure in collabo- There are 38 mega projects being imple- ration with the private sector as a key part- mented in South Sinai. These projects ner in development, serving objectives of include the construction of Ras Sedr In- all sectors –starting from the agricultural ternational Airport, development of haz- sector, which witnessed the launch of the ardous areas such as the Al Rewaysat area, 1.5 Million Feddan Project and Greenhouse besides other health projects including projects, to developing water desalination developing hospitals. plants and implementing several projects in the industrial sector including the con- In tandem, the New Republic fully real- struction of a large number of factories ized the pivotal importance of develop- which made significant contributions to the ing the Suez region. Efforts in this respect overall productivity of the state besides the started with the opening of the new Suez construction of the Alexandria arsenal. The Canal and developing the economic zone construction sector has also gave rise to a of the Suez Canal axis over an area of 460 historical renaissance in the region with the square kilometers, which is equivalent to announcement of the New Alamein project approximately 60 percent of the area of Singapore and includes 6 seaports and 4 ** Mr. Mohammed Maree, editor of «The West corridor: industrial zones. Region of the future» publication, the Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies (ECSS), 2020.

26 | The New Republic: Egypt’s Philosophy of Development in addition to a large number of roads that helped support greenhouse projects and links provinces of the region. The energy the “1.5 Million Feddan” Project in the face sector has attracted investments in renew- of the Corona pandemic. able energy including nuclear and solar en- ergy projects in the New Valley. Finally, on The Western Axis is expected to be one of the military side, the Mohamed Naguib base the most important axes of urban expan- was built, considered one of the largest mil- sion in the future. Therefore, its current itary bases in the Middle East and Africa. major cities are planned to meet the needs of the future, as all of them have been es- The launch of these economic develop- tablished to be fourth generation cities to ment projects came with the objective of meet the needs of the population needed protecting the “Western axis” against ter- by the development projects being imple- rorism, promoting productive activities mented in the region, so that each city is to combat poverty and unemployment, established with a different construction and linking the region to the valley with philosophy that fits the developmental di- a network of roads that accounted for 13 mension of the area it serves. The most percent of the total cost of road and bridge important of these cities are the New projects in Egypt and 6 percent of the total Alamein City, New Alexandria, and New lengths in the National Roads Project –a Farafra. The New Republic also targeted development approach that proved suc- addressing defects in older cities and de- cessful after stopping terrorist operations veloping their infrastructure through a flowing across the Libyan border. On the three-pronged strategy based on develop- other hand, the region has become the ing hazardous areas, the sports infrastruc- first source of Egyptian oil, accounting for ture, and the cultural infrastructure. 51 percent of the total production, which

The Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies | 27 VI. Fourth-Generation Cities

he concept of a smart eration cities with a total and sustainable city area of 580 feddans to ac- Tis one of the main commodate 30 million cit- foundations in the phi- izens and generate more losophy of the New Repub- job opportunities, in line lic. Egypt planned to build with Egypt’s Vision 2030. more than 26 fourth-gen-

28 | The New Republic: Egypt’s Philosophy of Development Egypt has also planned to implement the tension, New Sphinx, New Warraq in Giza, New Urban Agenda and the United Nations Obour City in Qalioubiya governorate, New Strategic Plan 2025 as a priority. Egypt aims Alamein City in Marsa Matrouh governo- at providing its people with better living rate, New Mansoura City in Daqahliya gover- conditions, meeting the rapid population norate, New Nubariya Extension in Beheira growth, and providing housing, investment governorate, East Port Said “Salam” in West and job opportunities. Egypt also aims at be- Port Said, New Bir Al-Abd in North Sinai, ing consistent with the New Egyptian Vision New Al-Fashn in Bani Suef, New Mallawi for sustainable development in line with in Minya governorate, West Assiut, West- the environmental and social frameworks ern Qena, New Luxor, Toshka in Aswan and and not just the economic conditions. Galala City in Ain Al-Sokhna.

Moreover, Egypt is keen to build new cit- ies and housing units to accommodate the Construction and Sustainability growing population. These cities should be planned in a solid, innovative manner from The significant development of the skills of the start to avoid repeating the tragedy of the workforce has led to the advancement slums and the problems of urban spaces. of city planning of fourth-generation cities. Hence comes the need for fourth-generation Governments try to find different ways to cities of a more sustainable and affordable absorb more people without destroying the nature to create integrated societies with qualities that make cities attractive to peo- quality and diverse services. ple in the first place.

These cities are distributed all over the re- The city’s vitality also stems from its eco- public, including the New Administrative nomic activities; cities need to take advan- Capital, south of New Cairo, New 6 Octo- tage of their competitive edge to compete ber City, October Gardens, Sheikh Zayed Ex- globally and not just at home. Thus, it is

The Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies | 29 crucial to make new smart cities more at- the least amount of pollution. All this is tractive to people to ensure that they want to achieved through the efficient use of land move to them. Besides having the attractive in such ways as converting the materials factors, a communication network is im- used into fertilizers, recycling, and/or con- perative. Another leverage is the integration verting waste into energy. of social fabric in terms of income distri- bution, access to governance, trade, health- Richard Florida, a theorist of urban studies, care, education, and security. Finally, cities focuses on the social impact of sustainable must be sustainable, including renewable cities, saying that cities need more than a energy planning, water security, waste man- competitive business environment. It must agement, and air quality. have an appealing environment for peo- ple to individuals and families. So, a shift In this context, four factors contribute to to denser urban life would provide a chan- the definition of a smart city: nel for social interaction and conditions in which people can thrive. ƒ Application of a wide range of electronic and digital technologies. ƒ Using information and communication New Cities, New Concepts technologies to change life and work en- vironments. The New Administrative Capital (NAC) tops ƒ Integrating information and communi- the fourth-generation cities with 170,000 cation technology in government regu- feddans. It will include 20 residential are- lations. as that will accommodate about 6.5 million ƒ Regionalizing practices that bring together people, with a 650 km roads network. information and communication technol- ogies with people to promote innovation The first phase of the smart city is 40,000 and knowledge. feddans providing 2048 housing units. It will also comprise an international airport In addition, the New Republic includes and an electric train to connect it to the cit- the sustainability dimension in the cities, ies of 10 Ramadan and Al-Salam. The city which is tied to taking into account the so- will include 1250 mosques and churches, cial, economic, and environmental impacts. a 500-seat conference center, about 2,000 The 11th goal of the United Nations Sustain- schools and faculties, more than 600 med- able Development Goals defines sustainable ical facilities, and a park that is being de- cities as those made to achieve green, social signed to be the largest in the world. and economic sustainability. New Alamein City Cities occupy only 3% of the land but con- sume 60% to 80% of energy and at least Located on 48,000 feddans in Alamein on 70% of carbon emissions. Creating safe, the Mediterranean coast, the city is designed resilient, and sustainable cities is, there- to comprise 5,000 housing units to accom- fore, a top priority for sustainable devel- modate more than 400,000 residents. opment. Priorities in a sustainable city include the ability to sustainably rely on The first phase focuses on setting up an en- the surrounding natural environment, and vironmental city. New Alamein will also in- the ability to power itself with renewable clude a national university with a number energy sources while creating the smallest of faculties of applied sciences, an opera conceivable environmental footprint and house, a library, and a museum.

30 | The New Republic: Egypt’s Philosophy of Development New 6 October, South of New Cairo developed by 2050. The authority allocated EGP 1.5 billion to the housing projects. Of The first phase of the New 6 October city is the 336 planned buildings in the city, 168 spread over 78,000 feddans and includes were completed. residential projects, integrated urban areas, a wholesale market, a land port, and a dis- Galala City trict for craftsmen. This is one of the largest Egyptian projects October Gardens City being carried out under the supervision of the Armed Forces Engineering Authority. The first phase of October Gardens covers The city includes Ain Al-Sokhna Galala Re- 41,000 feddans, including the EGP 400 bil- sort on the Gulf of Suez, Galala University, lion October Oasis extending over 3,000 and the Sokhna-Zafarana Road, and a road feddans and approximately 50,000 hous- crossing through Galala Mountain. ing units. Galala is planned as a tourist hub due to its New Obour City breathtaking beaches and distinctive cli- mate. Located 700 meters above sea level, The New Obour City is planned over 2,600 the city’s temperature is 10 degrees Celsius feddans, with 26,000 housing units, as less than the surrounding areas. well as public facilities, four nurseries, two primary schools, a secondary school, a The Galala project in Ain Al-Sokhna is located language school, three medical centers, 13 on the Galala plateau from the Cairo-Ain Al- shopping centers, a bakery, parks, a police Sokhna road to the top of the plateau in At- station, a fire station, and a youth center. taka. The main plateau road is approximate- ly 82 km long and divided into three routes New Mansoura City made safe against accidents and floods.

This is a new national project with a to- The city has already attracted $100 million tal area of 5,104 feddans. The first phase in investments, spent on 17,000 feddans, has been completed over 2,063 feddans. including the main road and the secondary It includes several projects: Sakan Misr axis. It’s divided into three sectors. with 4,704 units, Dar Misr with 11,000 units, a desalination plant, and a social Therefore, the concept of the city and the housing project. subsequent introduction of modern con- cepts that keep pace with the latest devel- Construction is afoot, but 20% of Sakan opments in living conditions and human Misr housing units have been completed. lifestyles are crucial in the New Republic. The targeted population of the new city is 680,000. In addition, Egypt’s new cities, estab- lished in the desert hinterland of the old New Aswan City cities along the Nile Valley, will bring about an urban expansion and diversified The New Aswan City Authority has spent economic activities and will allow their EGP 3.5 billion thus far on developing the residents to receive their rights sustaina- New Aswan City, with an 80% development bly and effectively. rate. The second phase is expected to be completed by 2025, and the city will be fully

The Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies | 31 VII. Developing the Transport System

he general philos- velop its railways, roads ophy of developing or public transport, land Tthe transport sector ports, seaports, and air- has been one of the New ports, in line with interna- Republic’s incentives for tional standards and the development. Egypt has country’s geographic and embarked on a plan to de- strategic location.

32 | The New Republic: Egypt’s Philosophy of Development Railways ƒ Developing industrial education through the development of the Railway Technical The railway development plan was based Technological Institute. on several axes: ƒ Establishing new metro lines in Cairo ƒ Striking partnerships and establishing with a capacity of 4 to 5 million passen- projects with international companies gers per day. such as “General Electric” and “Progress Rail” of America. Egypt entered into a ƒ Working on the LRT electric train pro- Russian-Hungarian alliance to manufac- ject and implementing 100 km monorail ture and supply 1,300 railroad cars, and projects. signed contracts with the Spanish compa- ny Talgo and Tatravagonka Company and ƒ Establishing an integrated electric express is discussing means of cooperation with train system in Egypt with a total length of Slovakian and Austrian companies. about 1,000 km to connect Ain Al-Sokhna and New Alamein City through the New ƒ Promoting domestic production, where Administrative Capital. Egypt produced 40,000 railroad cars and 50,000 bogies, according to the head of ƒ Diversifying and developing means of the Arab Organization for Industrializa- mass transport and localize some of its tion, while seeking to localize technology associated industries, and to diversify the in Egypt and export it to African countries. means of public transport in Egypt.

ƒ Upgrading the infrastructure by reno- vating the rails of the Upper Egypt line Roads and Bridges from Cairo to Aswan and other lines of the Railway Authority from the north to ƒ Developing roads to solve transport prob- the south. In addition, more than 2,100 lems by constructing a 7,000 km road net- km of railways are maintained to increase work, with a total length of 5,000 km. train trips and prevent accidents caused by poor railways. ƒ Launching the national project for paving local roads nationwide. The first phase

The Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies | 33 is underway in 12 governorates, with 207 duplicating the area and expanding and projects at a cost of EGP 2 billion. Thus far deepening the southern area of the Suez 121 projects have been completed. Mod- Canal. ern and environment-friendly CIR-FDR technologies are to be used for asphalt re- Egypt has approximately 50 sea ports that cycling. the New Republic has sought to develop. The most notable of these projects are: ƒ Applying ATS to include roads about 6,200 km long to contribute to reducing ƒ Developing seaports in Alexandria, Dami- the number of accidents by 40%, along etta, the Red Sea, East Port Said, and Ain Al- with improving the operational efficiency Sokhna with projects worth EGP 54 billion. of roads. ƒ River transport projects to develop riv- er ports amd link them to planned dry Ports ports. That is in addition to developing and cleaning the High Dam Lake south The Ever Given Cargo ship crisis and the of Aswan, and supporting the Nile Val- subsequent losses showed how important ley Authority for River Navigation. There Egyptian waterways and ports are to inter- is also a project to connect Lake Victoria national navigation. Under the New Re- and the Mediterranean Sea to create a new public’s strategy, Egypt has increased the commercial artery between Egypt and the prominence of the Suez Canal as an in- African continent. ternational waterway by digging the New Suez Canal, which aimed to duplicate the ƒ Land and dry ports projects have been 72 km long canal to facilitate navigation. completed at a total cost of EGP 300 mil- lion, the most important of which is the After the recent crisis, this vision was con- establishment of Qastal and Arquen land firmed, necessitating the development of ports. Work is also progressing on pro- the Canal’s Bitter Lake navigation course, jects at a total cost of about EGP 6 billion.

34 | The New Republic: Egypt’s Philosophy of Development In conclusion, the existing projects in the investments in this sector and the failure field of transportation clearly demonstrate of previous governments to develop pub- that Egypt is adamant on boosting the lic transportation facilities. Solid plans are economy and improving the living con- being implemented to overhaul the entire ditions, including in transportation of its transportation system by 2024, the year in people who have long suffered a decline in which all ongoing development projects transportation services due to the lack of are expected to be completed.

The Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies | 35 VIII. Developments in the Security and Military Field

he New Republic has Egypt’s national security. put the development The strategy is meant to be Tof the security and conducive to the climate of military field as one of its the New Republic and its priorities as part of a strate- development. gy to deter threats and boost

36 | The New Republic: Egypt’s Philosophy of Development Combating Terrorism ƒ Strengthening regional and international efforts against terrorist activities. Among In the New Republic, the Egyptian state seeks Egypt’s foreign policy endeavors in this re- to launch a comprehensive approach to erad- gard are the establishment of the regional icate terrorist organizations. Since 2014, the Sahel-Saharan Anti-Terrorism Center in state has worked to achieve national security Cairo and the strengthening of the Arab by focusing on the following principles: counter-terrorism system, in addition to chairing the Counter-Terrorism Commit- ƒ Emphasizing the importance of protect- tee in the Security Council in 2016, and ing the state and its institutions. participating in meetings of the Global Coalition against the Islamic State’s com- ƒ Protecting the people by combating ter- munication strategy task group. rorism and crime, and maintaining social security through state social protection The philosophy of the new republic to- and healthcare programs. ward a comprehensive approach to coun- ter-terrorism has also been based on: ƒ Restoring the prestige and control of the state. 1. Security efforts of the Egyptian armed forc- es and police through the launch of several ƒ Restoring confidence in the security operations aimed at undermining the in- agencies concerned with safety and sta- fluence of terrorist organizations in the bilization. north and center of Sinai, the Delta, and the desert zone west of the Nile Valley (Sinai). ƒ Developing the capabilities of the Egyp- The efforts are represented in “The Martyr’s tian Armed Forces to counter threats ex- Right” operation (September 2015-Febru- isting and possible threats. ary 2018), and Comprehensive Operation Sinai 2018, which aimed at destroying the ƒ Caring for victims of terrorism and fami- infrastructure of terrorist organizations, lies of martyrs. eliminating many terrorist leaders, secur-

The Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies | 37 ing borders, drying up terrorists’ financial ƒ Countering criminal and economic sources and logistical support, and reduc- crimes by dealing with corruption and ing infiltration and illegal immigration. bribery, exploitation of influence and em- bezzlement, damage to public property, 2. Legislation is essential to respond to ter- counterfeiting and forgery, and anything rorism correctly. Legislative efforts were detrimental to economic security. manifested in: ƒ Developing police structures under the ƒ The 2014 Law of Securing and Protection “balanced modernization” strategy and of Public and Vital Facilities. issuing a “Code of Conduct and Ethics for Police Work.” ƒ The Terrorist Entities law of February 2015. ƒ Enhancing police services provided to the ƒ The Anti-Terrorism law of August 2015, public under a plan to mechanize such which defines the terrorist, terrorist act, services. and the financing of terrorism. ƒ Boosting police logistics. ƒ Establishing the Supreme Council for Combating Terrorism. ƒ Developing police training mechanisms.

ƒ Anti-Cyber Crime Law. ƒ Intensifying cooperation with regional and international security and police in- 3. Ideological confrontation: Dar Al-Iftaa stitutions, including a protocol with the (House of Religious Edicts) has estab- Italian Ministry of Interior in the fight lished an observatory to combat “takfi- against organized crime and illegal mi- ri” fatwas (religious rulings) in 2014 to gration in 2019. offer intellectual and religious edicts. In addition, Al-Azhar plays a vital role ƒ Establishing the role in the community through several means, such as organiz- of the Egyptian Police by contributing to ing preaching convoys, launching intel- alleviating the burdens of citizens, and in lectual and religious platforms, issuing the light of the strategy of activating hu- humanitarian documents such as the manitarian and social initiatives to build “Document of Human Brotherhood,” and bridges of trust and cooperation with the holding conferences such as Al-Azhar In- public. ternational Conference on the Renova- tion of Islamic Thought. ƒ Establishing a human rights department and cooperating with the National Hu- man Rights Councils and General Federa- Reforming Police tion of Associations and NGOs to monitor human rights violations that may occur According to the 2018 Gallup’s Law and Or- in police stations and to examine ways of der Index, Egypt was ranked 16th along with ending them. Austria, China, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Slovenia in terms of cit- izens’ sense of trust in police services and Modernizing the Military System law enforcement procedures, by updating the working system to include: The philosophy of the New Republic is based on Egypt’s determination to bolster

38 | The New Republic: Egypt’s Philosophy of Development the capabilities of the Armed Forces. This China, Russia, Germany, Britain, Italy, and vision depends on the close relationship France to reduce dependence on a par- between the strength of the army and the ticular source of technology and military resilience and stability of the state and its naval, air, and land equipment. institutions. This has been reflected in Egypt’s success in combating terrorism, as well as in securing its vital interests in Methodology for Restoring and En- the Eastern Mediterranean and strategic hancing Territorial Security hubs, which are experiencing tensions in the face of renewed cycles of armed con- The establishment of the New Republic flicts, such as in Libya. is based on a series of actions within the framework of a regional program of action In this regard, the features of this mod- against all crises. The program provides an ernization are: opportunity to emerge from domestic cri- ses and escape the fate of failed states. ƒ Modernization of infrastructure, through the development of existing military bas- The program is adopted by the United Na- es, and inaugurating military bases to tions as a guiding model for nations aspir- facilitate the deployment of the Armed ing to restore stability. It is based on: Forces against threats. The military bases include the Mohamed Naguib Base (July Preserving the unity of states, sup- 2017), Bernese Base (January 2020), and porting the aspirations of peoples to Gargoub naval base (July 2020). improve their economic, political, and social conditions, pushing to advance ƒ Raising combat efficiency by holding the course of peaceful settlement of joint military maneuvers with regional conflicts, refusing the employment of and international powers, such as the US, military tools for resolution, halting Russia, China, France, Greece, Cyprus, disruptive external interventions in and the UAE. The Egyptian army carried peace and stability efforts, putting an out 33 military exercises, such as “Qader end to the efforts of competing parties 2020” and “Hasm 2020.” to drain peoples’ abilities and wealth through the re-production of conflict ƒ Nationalizing defense industries to cycles, promoting reconstruction ef- achieve self-sufficiency by opening mili- forts and supporting national armies. tary factories and localizing technologies.

ƒ Modernizing data exchange and military The New Republic has organized its ef- communication capabilities through the forts to achieve regional security and launch of the Egyptian Space Agency to restore stability through a methodolo- support the high-encryption strategic gy that has proven effective. The New command and control network at home Republic reflects the Egyptian lead- and at the Middle East and North Africa ership’s awareness of the importance levels, and the development of a ground of restoring calm and building peace command and control system “RISC2.” in the Middle East as a foundation for building a new Egypt. The country has ƒ Diversifying sources of armament: The successfully managed to achieve sta- country has diversified its sources of ar- bility and build deterrence. mament, including the United States,

The Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies | 39 IX. Egypt’s Foreign Policy

ne of the New Re- out taking sides, and build- public’s objectives ing on the requirements of Ois to bolster Egypt’s national interests. regional and international Egypt’s international prom- status and to strengthen inence is gaining ground. its basic concepts, values The country is using the and principles, besides powerful tool of diplomacy its views on the variety of to change negative views global issues. The means and offer powerful insights to do this has been by on issues of international strengthening its relations and regional concern. with major powers, with-

40 | The New Republic: Egypt’s Philosophy of Development The Egyptian vision was shaped by a Moreover, the foreign political decision number of factors that have contributed does not contradict with internal projects to the development of general and meth- and efforts. They both work in tandem odological frameworks that can shape the and cohesion to achieve domestic and overall external movements. The New Re- foreign gains. public’s foreign policy has been formu- lated with the intent to restore Egypt’s ƒ Deterrence Tools: The New Republic’s influential role as follows: philosophy of restoring its status is based on the possession of deterrence tools and ƒ Domestic equilibrium: Egypt’s foreign building and modernizing the military policy in the New Republic is based on system on the basis that the army is the the construction of the interior to en- first wall of defense in the face of threats. hance the international role and the cohe- sion between the domestic power and the This was reflected in the development of effectiveness of the external movements. the level and quality of arms, as well as the diversification of the sources of weapons ƒ Autonomy of Political Decision-Mak- and the opening up to a number of pow- ing: Egypt’s foreign policy is designed ers, modernizing the military structure and in accordance with the principle of in- working on increasing the combat efficien- dependence and serving national inter- cy of the Armed Forces by expanding mili- ests, without threatening the national tary exercises and training in many arenas, security and without giving in to re- and supporting the localization of defense gional or international threats and pres- and military industries. sures. In this context, Egypt meant to diversify the sources it depends on in ƒ Consolidating National State: Amid its external movements and moving in regional instability, Egypt’s external di- different directions. rection has been towards supporting the

The Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies | 41 national state while working to halt for- exerted efforts to establish the Regional eign interferences, respecting the state’s Counter-Terrorism Centre for the Sahel-Sa- sovereignty, ending armed conflicts and hara states in 2018. preventing their recurrence. The impact of these foundations on the Libyan scene ƒ New Horizons: In the New Republic, and the halting of the cycle of conflict re- Egypt formed a new foreign policy circle, sulted in announcing a red line, pushing chiefly in the Mediterranean, through the for a political solution and supporting the tripartite alliance between Egypt, Cyprus, transitional phase aimed at holding elec- and Greece and the drafting of the Cairo tions by the end of the current year and Declaration in the first tripartite summit. restoring Libya’s institutions, and that’s Egypt also hosts the East Mediterrane- the same position Egypt adopted towards an Gas Forum, which will transform the the Syria and Yemen conflicts. country into an energy hub.

ƒ A Comprehensive Approach for Coun- ƒ Back to the African Circle: The return of tering Terrorism: A foreign policy pri- Egyptian African ties as they were in the ority has been adopting a comprehensive past counts as one of the major shifts in approach to combat terrorism. The vision the Egyptian foreign policy over the past is distinguished by the necessity of reduc- seven years. Following the 30 June 2013 ing confrontation, diversifying tools on revolution, Egypt’s African Union mem- the military, intellectual, developmental bership was frozen, yet Egypt managed to and ideological fronts. come back and chair the African Union in 2019. The New Republic has contribut- Egypt expressed this vision during Presi- ed to the re-evaluation of Egyptian Afri- dent Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi’s speech in the can relations on the basis of preservation Riyadh summit in 2017. On the other hand, strategic interests and striking relations Egypt chaired the Counter-Terrorism Com- based on achieving comprehensive devel- mittee of the Security Council in 2016 and opment in accordance with Africa’s 2063

42 | The New Republic: Egypt’s Philosophy of Development Agenda, which Egypt contributed to for- the new Levantine project, and the launch mulating its clauses. of the tripartite cooperation mechanism between Egypt, Jordan and Iraq. In 2014, President Al-Sisi made seven visits to African countries, after years-long hia- ƒ The Palestinian Cause: The recent Is- tus, as his visit to the Kenyan capital of Nai- raeli aggression towards Gaza confirmed robi in 2017 was the first in about 33 years. the key Egyptian role in the Palestinian The same applies to his visit to Djibouti conflict. Throughout the crisis, Egypt was (May 2021). The recent intensification of able to lead ahead of regional and interna- movements towards African states can also tional actors and to emphasize its central be noticed in the manner of military and role. Efforts have been made to convince defense cooperation agreements, which Israel and Hamas of the importance of a were recently signed with Sudan, Uganda, ceasefire. The ensuing urgent presidential Burundi and Kenya. initiative aimed at the reconstruction of Gaza reflects Egypt’s non-traditional role ƒ Activating the Arab Role: Al-Sisi’s com- in resolving and calming tensions and ments on various occasions and his con- conflicts in the region, especially related stant assertion that Arab national secu- to the Palestinian issue. Egypt’s pivotal rity is fundamental to Egypt’s national role was recognized by a number of in- security was nothing other than a desire ternational powers, on top of which was to activate the Arab role. The president’s Washington. The steps Egypt has taken invitation at the Arab Summit (March proved its approach to conflicts is com- 2015) for the launch of a joint Arab force prehensive and has strengthened its po- to face challenges was a translation of that litical communication with the interna- vision. Egypt has begun moving towards tional community, which contributes to activating the Arab role with coordina- the revitalization of the Egyptian foreign tion and cooperation between the forces policy and its many instruments. of the Arab region, such as the launch of

The Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies | 43 ƒ Iraq: Recently, Egypt has taken many ef- port through contacts between President fective steps towards Iraq, through bi- Al-Sisi and Lebanese President Michel laterally and trilateral cooperation, as Aoun, following the Beirut port explo- demonstrated by the Egyptian Iraqi Jor- sion, and by the participation in the inter- danian cooperation, the New Levantine national donor conferences on 9 August Project, which will contribute in the re- and 2 December 2020, through which the construction of Iraq, and the exchange of Lebanese parties urged that their coun- oil and electricity between countries. This try should be free from regional conflicts, project is also an opportunity to maintain and that efforts should be focused on sup- Iraq’s security and to restore it back to the porting national state institutions. Arab national security system. Egypt was one of the first countries to ƒ The Syrian Crisis: Egypt sponsored de-es- quickly provide Lebanon with relief aid calation agreements in Syria, and recon- after the port explosion and immediate- ciliation agreements in the northern and ly created an air bridge carrying large and eastern areas between the opposition and various assistance, construction materials the Syrian regime (August 2018), and the and the requirements of the health sector, Syrian coast between moderate opposi- following the spread of the conronavirus tion factions and the regime (July 2018), in Lebanon. and the mediation of the Eastern Ghouta truce agreement (July 2017). Egypt counts as the largest provider of assistance to Lebanon, and that support ƒ Lebanon: Egypt has been keen to provide continued, as the Minister of Health vis- Lebanon with all kinds of political sup- ited Beirut (28 January) with aircraft loads

44 | The New Republic: Egypt’s Philosophy of Development of medicines, protective gear and medical Egypt’s national security. The move man- equipment. In addition. aged to end military operations in the west- ern region and dissipated Turkish ambi- Cairo, through its embassy in Beirut, con- tions to control the oil crescent areas and tinues to engage with all Lebanese parties led to the activation of the peace process. and hold meetings with various forces to work on drawing points of views closer to- In addition, Cairo hosted delegations repre- gether. These efforts include calls between senting social forces, like Libyan tribes and the Egyptian Ambassador in Beirut and social councils, and institutions such as the the Lebanese Prime Minister, Hassan Diab, Libyan parliament, the National Army and and a number of ministers, as well as the the Government of National Accord, which Speaker of the House of Representatives, strengthened Libyans’ commitment to their Nabih Berri. vision of a solution as a sustainable basis for a comprehensive settlement. ƒ The Libyan Crisis: Egypt contributed to supporting the resolution of the crisis in In addition to participating in all initia- Libya and made efforts to de-escalate the tives aimed at the political settlement of crisis to achieve the unity and sovereignty the crisis, such as the French meetings in of the Libyan state, and to confront terror- Paris (May 2018), Palermo in Italy (Novem- ist organizations that have tried to trans- ber 2018), the Berlin Conference (January form Libya into the base of operations for 2020) and many other tours, Egypt has also their activities in North Africa and the contributed to gathering Libyan parties on Southern Mediterranean. Egypt’s active, many occasions for negotiation and dia- effective and diplomatic role towards logue, and it hosted groups representing all achieving stability in Libya was successful political currents active in the Libyan arena in coordinating with the United Nations (July 2016), in order to reach consensus on Mission and Libyan Institutions to for- a solution for the crisis. mulate an economic settlement aimed at cushioning the repercussions of the con- Moreover, Cairo launched several initia- flict on the Libyan economy and ending tives at the highest level, such as the ini- the division of its financial institutes. The tiative to unify the Libyan Parliament, the success of these endeavors was manifest- Cairo Declaration on the Cessation of Mili- ed in the unification of the exchange rates tary Operations and Initiation of a Peaceful of the dinar and the consolidation of the Settlement (July 2020), and the Egyptian budget for 2021. Supreme National Committee specialized in the Libyan file. In addition to its support to the Libyan Na- tional Army, Egypt targeted Islamic State Cairo also played an active role in pushing strongholds in the Libyan Eastern coastal for the unification of the Libyan security cities through air strikes, and it intensified and military institutions. The Cairo meet- efforts to control the borders. In addition ings (September 2017) and the Hurghada to standing against foreign interferences, meetings (September 2020) advanced this which destabilize Libya, it also condemned path. These efforts culminated in the (5+5) Turkey’s transfer of mercenaries and terror- committee that sealed a sustainable agree- ist elements to Libya. ment for a ceasefire (October 2020).

This was demonstrated by Egypt’s drawing of the Sirte-Jufra region as a red line for

The Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies | 45 X. Energy Projects and the East Mediterranean Gas Forum

he current political the economy handle the leadership realized spending pressures arising TEgypt structural from the increase in pop- economic imbalance and ulation while providing a started to approach it dif- surplus that would be used ferently adopting a new in facing global crises such philosophy aimed at raising as the global financial crisis revenues that would help and the Covid-19 pandemic.

46 | The New Republic: Egypt’s Philosophy of Development Taking a close look at the Egyptian economy, from their shares in the production and ex- the government was well-aware that the en- port of gas and oil, which prompted them ergy sector is the most efficient sector that to stop their investments. This resulted in could serve as a locomotive for economic de- a decline in Egypt’s production of crude oil velopment given the global shift to renewable and gas, an increase in imports of those energy which offers an opportunity for Egypt items, which placed more pressures on the –a country with a very strategic location– to Egyptian economy. become the most important regional player in generating and transmitting energy from Therefore, the new administration tar- surplus regions to deficit areas, i.e. turning geted repaying foreign companies’ dues Egypt into a regional hub for energy trading. which encouraged those companies to stimulate new investments in already ex- However, renewable energy hadn’t been the isting fields or in exploration of new fields only focus of the current administration as it or increasing production. This has been worked on promoting its position as regards the case before Egypt made its giant dis- to old energy, especially oil and gas. It, also covery of Zohr gas field. went beyond internal reforms, whether leg- islative or structural, and took steps at the After 2014, there has been a decrease in the international level under the “energy axes” production of gas with the production level policy, which gave rise the East Mediterranean going down to 40.3 bcm, whereas the con- Gas Forum. sumption rate for the same year rose to 49.4 bcm, which caused a shortage of production of about 9 bcm Egypt imported from abroad. Oil and Gas Sector With the launch of the economic re- After the January Revolution of 2011, the oil form program, this gap began to decrease, and gas sector fell into an impasse, a situa- prompting investors to make more invest- tion that can be summarized in the state’s ments which helped cover the increases in inability to pay the dues of foreign partners consumption. In 2018, with the operation

Figure (1) shows the change in gas production and consumption

The Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies | 47 Figure (2)

of Zohr, production of gas exceeded con- Burullus, and the Administrative Capital, sumption rates for the first time since 2014; with a total capacity of 14.4 GW, which led to so, Egypt turned again to exporting gas in a surplus of approximately 26 GW of capac- 2019, after achieving a surplus of about 6 ity at the end of the fiscal year 2018-2019, as bcm where production rose to 64.9 bcm and shown in Figure (2). consumption decreased to 58.9 bcm. The figure shows there has been a develop- This led to an increase in the sector’s share ment in the production capacity from 35.3 of the Egyptian exports. In 2011, gas exports GW in 2014-2015 with a surplus capacity of amounted to $9.24 billion; however, it de- 4.31 GW, to 58.3 GW with a surplus of more clined to $3.16 billion in 2016 to rise again than 26 GW where the maximum demand to of $9.24 billion in 2019, following efforts stopped at only 31.4 GW, which means the to restore the sector’s potential. ability of the national Energy Grid of Egypt to adapt to the various challenges, even in case one of its major stations went out of Restoring the Efficiency of Electric- service for any emergency circumstances. ity Production This surplus meant Egypt’s ability to export energy to deficit areas, whether to Europe or Post 2014, the Ministry of Electricity and Re- Africa, by linking with regional networks in newable Energy worked to develop an urgent these continents. plan to avoid recurring crises in the sector and long-term power outages in most gov- ernorates. Thus, 25,000 MW of conventional Building Power Axes energy capacities were added till the end of 2018 – a capacity that is higher than the avail- In order to make use of the surplus of gas and able capacities before 2013-2014, with a total electricity with the aim of bringing in huge investment cost of about EGP 278.4 billion. cash flows that raise revenues which would help Egypt achieves stability in its general Additionally, twenty-six power plants have budget and trade balance, the government been completed, with 114 electricity gener- has engaged in exploiting the comprehen- ating units, the most important of which sive capabilities of the state to build energy are the giant Siemens plants in Beni Suef, axes with countries of the region to enhance

48 | The New Republic: Egypt’s Philosophy of Development Figure (3)

its position as a regional hub for energy trad- new pipeline linking the Aphrodite gas field ing. The axes Egypt built are as follows: to the Egyptian network to transport Cypriot gas to liquefaction facilities. This axis was ƒ Egypt-Cyprus-Israel Axis the first to play a role in preparing for the launch of the Egyptian project. Egypt started building this axis to facilitate importing of gas from the two producing ƒ Egypt-Cyprus-Greece Axis countries, so far, in the Eastern Mediterra- nean, with the aim of liquefying it in the This axis helped maintain the geographical Egyptian liquefaction facilities in Idku and connection between the Egyptian and Cyp- Damietta, and then re-exporting it to Eu- riot exclusive economic zones on the one rope, using a gas pipeline (Arish - Ashkelon) hand and Greece on the other hand, follow- which is actually connected to the Egyptian ing the signing of the border agreement be- gas network. Egypt plans to extend this tween Turkey and the Sarraj government. pipeline connect it to the Israeli gas fields The axis was built with the aim of preserv- in the Eastern Mediterranean, primarily Le- ing the possibility of transferring Egyptian, viathan and Tamar fields, and then build a Israeli, and Cypriot liquefied gas to lique- faction stations in West- ern Europe, and pass- ing cables of electricity coming from Egypt and Cyprus to Greece with- out passing through the economic zones of other countries. The following figure shows the expected path of the electrical interconnec- tion cable between the three countries.

The Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies | 49 ƒ Egypt-Saudi Arabia-UAE-Bahrain Axis ity with a total capacity of 1.6 GW from four Iranian lines, namely Mirsad-Diya- This axis was built against the backdrop of la, Sarbil-Khanaqin, Khorram Shahr-Khor the 30 June revolution, to provide political Al-Zubair, and Karkhah-Amara line. support for the Egyptian state and its ad- ministration in international forums, and The total quantities imported by Iraq to provide cash assistance to overcome cri- through the four lines amounted to about ses and provide the fuel needed to run ve- 4.6 GW/h per hour in 2018 (as per the lat- hicles and generate electricity, towards pro- est announced statistics), which gives Iran viding an enabling environment to reshape enormous influence that it uses to impose the country’s constitutional institutions. its will on the successive Iraqi govern- This axis was latter developed to connect ments. So, building this axis means, after the Gulf-Egypt networks through a cable all, achieving mutual benefits for the three that passes under the waters of the Red Sea countries – Egypt exporting part of its sur- with a capacity of 3 GW, to transmit electric- plus of electricity, Jordan achieving eco- ity and pass it from the Gulf countries to nomic returns in return for passing of elec- Europe through the Egyptian network. tricity through its network, and Iraq will be provided with a strategic alternative to the Figure (3) shows the expected capacity sur- Iranian gas, which will relatively contribute pluses in selected Gulf countries and Egypt to free the Iraqi political decision. in 2029. This axis is also supposed to enhance Egypt’s ƒ Egypt-Jordan-Iraq Axis role as a hub for storing and trading crude oil and oil derivatives. Preparations are un- The aim of building this axis was to take ad- derway to start implementing an oil pipe- vantage of the electricity infrastructure that line linking the Iraqi city of Basra with the already links Egypt and Jordan, among other port of Aqaba. The pipeline is expected to countries in what was came to be known as operate mid-2021 at the capacity of million the “Eight Countries Electric Interconnec- barrels a day in order to supply Jordan with tion Project” which included – in addition all of its oil needs, including those required to Egypt, Jordan, and Iraq – Syria, Lebanon, to operate the Zarqa refinery, which amounts Libya, Palestine, and Turkey. Iraq has actu- to about 150,000 barrels per day, and then ally been linked with electric cables to both transfer 850,000 barrels to Egypt, and other Syria and Turkey, but this connection is cur- countries which Iraq has export contracts rently disabled with the two countries due with, making use of the new developed re- to the current events and the unrest the re- fineries that the Egyptian administration is gion is going through. expanding in, in fulfillment of its plan to achieve self-sufficiency of petroleum deriva- In September 2020, an agreement was tives by 2023, before export operations begin. signed between Jordan and Iraq to es- tablish a direct link between them with ƒ Egypt-Sudan Axis a capacity of GW/h, and the project is planned to be completed in about two Cairo seeks to restore its relations with Su- years, hoping that it will relieve the dan and consolidate them at historical stra- pressures Iraq is facing due to its pri- tegic levels. Egypt’s efforts in this respect mary dependence on Iran to provide paid off given the ample scope for bilater- natural gas needed to run power plants, al cooperation in the common interests of in addition to its importing of electric- both countries, starting from water man-

50 | The New Republic: Egypt’s Philosophy of Development agement files and the GRED crisis to the In 2020, the EMGF forum turned into a re- electricity dossier. Sudan acts as a power gional intergovernmental organization. transit country through which energy is The charter of the organization stated a transmitted from Egypt to Africa and vice number of important points, notably, 1) versa –it is linked to the Ethiopian and the organization serves as a platform that South Sudanese networks, on one hand, and brings together gas producers, consumers, networks of Central African States, on the and transit countries toward developing other. Sudan has already been linked with a shared vision and systematic and regu- a 240 MW electric cable to Egypt and this lated dialogue over natural gas policies, 2) cable is planned to be further developed in the organization respects the right of every the future. Preparations are also underway member state to the optimum use of their so that Egypt could receive electricity from natural resources, and 3) that it is open to the Democratic Republic of Congo –which is any country or regional or international or- expected to produce over 40 GW of electrical ganization to join, as long as the prospective power once the Grand Inga Dam is complet- member adopts the values and objectives of ed– to re-export it to Europe through the the organization. Egypt- Cyprus -Greece axis.

Transforming Egypt into a region- Establishing the East Mediterrane- al energy trading hub means it out- an Gas Forum (EMGF) weighs its regional competitors which would mean more direct cash flows The EMGF was established with the aim are generated from exports and tran- of establishing a regional gas market that sit fees. Moreover, Egypt’s economy serves the interests of the members by en- will indirectly benefit from the direct suring supply and demand, formulating foreign investments that will go to common regional policies on natural gas the pipelines linking projects which including regional gas policies, supporting would naturally generate job oppor- members who have gas reserves and who tunities during phases of implemen- are current gas producers in the region to tation and subsequent maintenance. capitalize on their existing and future re- The same is true of industries feeding serves by enhancing their cooperation with these projects including manufactur- the parties of consumption and transit in ers of batteries, electric cables, and so- the region, and taking advantage of existing lar cells which are all supposed to be infrastructure and developing more infra- nationalized. Finally, Egypt serving as structure options to accommodate current a regional trading hub will help shape and future discoveries. Egypt’s vital role as it will contribute to reducing Europe’s dependence on One notable achievement of the EMGF was the Russian gas which accounts for 47 Egypt signing agreements with Israel and percent of Europe’s total gas imports. Greek to re-export gas to them after lique- fying it in Egyptian liquefaction stations. Moreover, Israel, Cyprus, and Greece signed a preliminary agreement that paves the way for a gas pipeline between the three coun- tries to transport surplus Israeli gas to Eu- rope through Cyprus and Greece, in what became known as the EastMed pipeline.

The Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies | 51 XI. Egypt’s Role in Africa

stablishing the New strategic depth. This con- Republic, the political cept has been manifested Eleadership eyed Afri- in the political leadership’s ca and sought to consoli- genuine recognition of the date its role in the world’s need for Egypt to develop second-largest continent, the African aspect of its identifying it as a concen- identity in accordance with tric circle in Egypt’s foreign a vision based on the prin- policy on national securi- ciple of “development for ty-related issues. For Egypt, preservation of continental Africa represents a natural security and stability”.

52 | The New Republic: Egypt’s Philosophy of Development ƒ Transfer of Expertise: Egypt founded its ƒ Development of Africa: The first phase vision for Nile Basin countries on the firm of Benban Solar Park has been launched, belief that the Nile River should remain a Nyerere and Rufiji dams were implement- space for peaceful coexistence, fraterni- ed in Tanzania, and the Navigational Line ty, and development. Egypt’s endeavor to between Lake Victoria and the Mediterra- fostering relations with Nile Basin coun- nean Sea project is being carried out. Also, tries extended beyond paying diplomat- under Africa’s Renewable Energy Initia- ic visits to those countries guided by the tive of 2015, Egypt carried out several elec- political leadership to transferring Egypt’s trical connectivity projects to make the experience and expertise to those coun- best use of Africa’s clean energy poten- tries where Egypt supported the political tial, estimated at 40 percent of the world’s movement in Sudan till signing of the energy including Egypt-Sudan electrical Constitutional Declaration and forming linkage project and a linkage project with the Sovereignty Council of Sudan com- Ethiopia’s electricity network. Currently, prising military and civil components, Egypt’s participation in the construction hosted the Consultative Summit of Re- of the Grand Inga Dam is under consid- gional Partners of Sudan in April 2019 to eration and the electrical linkage project discuss developments in Sudan and bol- with Inga has been activated which would ster the comprehensive process of peace- promote Egypt’s role as a hub for hydro- ful democratization, supported Sudan’s power transfer between African countries removal from the list of State Sponsors of and Europe. There is also joint coordina- Terrorism, and attended the Paris Confer- tion between Egypt and Somalia in areas ence to support Sudan’s transitional gov- of energy and oil and gas discoveries as ernment upon invitation of the French well as coordination projects with Benin president. on infrastructure and energy projects.

The Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies | 53 ƒ Military Cooperation: Egypt aims at ad- fire. Egypt also put forward initiatives for dressing external interference in the con- dialogue, delivery of humanitarian assis- tinent and reducing armed threats and tance to those affected by conflicts, and arms trafficking. Egypt has inked a mili- fighting famine, and worked on activat- tary cooperation and training agreement ing the role of Cairo International Center with Sudan, military and intelligence for Conflict Resolution, Peacekeeping and pacts with Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, and Peacebuilding. In February 2019, Egypt Djibouti, and coordinated with African hosted the Regional Conference for pros- countries on combating terrorism and ecutors from the Middle East and North protecting the Red Sea coast. Also, Egypt Africa to share its vision for combating adopted Treaty of Community of Sa- terrorism. Further, Cairo hosted, for the hel-Saharan States, aimed at preservation first time, the meeting of Ministerial of peace and security in the Community Committee on African Defense, Security, of Sahel-Saharan States, submitted a pro- and Safety in December 2019 and signed posal for establishing an African coun- in the same month an agreement to host ter-terrorism force, and hosted a meeting the African Union Center for Reconstruc- of the Chiefs of Staff of the five Sahel mili- tion and Development in Cairo. taries –Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad, and Burkina Faso– in February 2020. Egypt’s participation in international and African summits on African matters was ƒ Strengthening Security and Continen- centered around achieving continental in- tal Integration: President Abdel-Fattah tegration and mutual interest-based collabo- Al-Sisi reiterated his call for implemen- ration. So, Egypt’s engagement was aimed at tation of “Silencing the Guns” initiative promoting collaboration for the greater good which he proposed during the African of Africa through linking African countries Summit in Addis Ababa in February 2019, together and linking them with Europe to aiming at ending conflicts and wars in the achieve development in all spheres toward continent and reaching definitive agree- realizing the sustainable development di- ments with parties to disputes for a cease- mensions of Africa’s Agenda 2063 including

54 | The New Republic: Egypt’s Philosophy of Development promoting entry into force of African Free digital transformation initiative launched Trade Agreement at the African Union Ex- by President Al-Sisi in partnership with the traordinary Summit in Niger on 30 May 2019 private sector. Egypt also engaged with the and establishing a Covid-19 response fund, African Trade Insurance Agency aimed at which Egypt called for in the African Union’s facilitating the development of trade, invest- video conference meeting held before G20 ment, and production activities. In 2014 in Summit to support Covid-19 efforts in the Malabo, the Egyptian Agency of Partnership continent and its negative repercussions on for Development in Africa was established African economies and obtain international after merging The Egyptian Fund for Tech- support. Egypt participated as well in African nical Cooperation with Africa and The Egyp- Economic Conference in Paris 2021. tian Fund for Technical Cooperation with the Countries of Commonwealth. Additionally, the first phase of Cape to Cairo Road aimed at connecting North and South Given Egypt’s role in Africa, it was chosen to Africa has been implemented. The 11,000 chair the African Group on North Africa at km road stretches the length of Africa from the three UN Organizations in Rome during Cairo to South Africa to facilitate traffic and 2020 and the G77 in Rome in 2018. Egypt won trade between the nine countries it connects. presidency of the UN Committee on Social In December 2018, a €1 billion Investment Policies and Poverty in 2020 and 2021 for the Risk Insurance Fund in Africa was created third time since its establishment in 1979. focusing on infrastructure and youth train- The Committee works on promoting safe mi- ing activities to stimulate direct and indirect gration, empowering women, and providing investments in Africa. The Fund received social welfare. Further, Egypt adopted health support from the World Bank, the African initiatives to support continent’s efforts in Development Bank, and the European Bank facing diseases and epidemics, understand- for Reconstruction and Development. Sim- ing that humans are the basis for develop- ilarly, an IT infrastructure investment fund ment and endorsed initiatives to empower has been set up and relatedly the World Bank African women and achieve gender equality allocated $25 billion to invest in the 10-year in the continent.

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