National Dialogue signs off on first recommendations: The National Dialogue has produced its first set of recommendations for political, economic, and social reforms, three months after it kicked off discussions, it said in a statement on Friday. Drawn up by 13 separate sub-committees, the recommendations were last week presented to President Abdel Fattah El Sisi for consideration. The full list of proposals were published by the local press.

BUSINESS + ECON- Among the list of economic reforms put forward by the Dialogue are proposals to:

  • Bring back the Economy Ministry to supervise national economic policy;
  • Policy drafters also want to make it easier for businesses to access credit by having banks shorten their credit-decision times and by raising credit limits for industrial firms — policies typically left in Egypt (and any other economy we can think of) to individual banks and their internal processes. Drafters want the CBE to handle the change through a new directive;
  • Increase support for small businesses by launching an investment fund for startups and a national strategy to boost entrepreneurship ;
  • Introduce commodity futures trading ;
  • Strengthen the role of cooperatives by passing new legislation and setting up a new national body.

POLITICS- As part of the recommendations for political reform, the Dialogue has presented the president with three options for reforming the electoral system: keeping the status quo, which divides closed lists and individuals 50/50; adopting a proportional list system; or introducing a mixed system that combines closed lists, proportional lists, and individuals.

Other political reform proposals include:

  • Increasing the number of MPs and senator s in the House of Representatives and the Senate (we’re not entirely certain how more MPs is necessarily going to be productive…);
  • Reviewing the current cap on campaign financing during presidential elections in light of rising inflation;
  • Passing legislation to reform electoral rules for local councils.

SOCIETY- The Dialogue has recommended a number of social reforms, including:

  • The introduction of new subjects in primary education including entrepreneurship, creative thinking, simulation models, and practical activities;
  • Changing the guardianship law so that mothers would receive their children’s inheritance should the father die, rather than grandfathers;
  • Passing a law to establish anti-discrimination commissioners.

El Sisi vows to take action: “I affirm that [the recommendations] will be referred to the concerned authorities for study and implementation within the scope of my legal and constitutional powers,” El Sisi said on social media last Wednesday, noting that anything that needs legislation (whether new or tweaks to existing acts) would be sent to the House of Representatives.

It’s not over: “More recommendations are to come after the National Dialogue holds another round of public sessions in the coming weeks,” the Dialogue’s General Coordinator Diaa Rashwan said.

On the agenda in the weeks ahead: On the political front, the dialogue will discuss challenges facing professional syndicates as well as laws regulating pretrial detention and political parties among other topics, Rashwan said. The economic agenda will tackle inflation and the future of the pharma industry, while the social agenda will look into issues with university education, he added.

BACKGROUND: The National Dialogue was launched in May, almost a year after it was first announced by President Abdel Fattah El Sisi. It brings together political parties and factions across the spectrum to discuss the country’s political roadmap and economic priorities moving forward. Over 7.2k individuals have so far participated, according to the statement.

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