{"id":645584,"date":"2017-07-25T04:05:48","date_gmt":"2017-07-25T04:05:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2017\/07\/25\/alexandria-youth-conference\/"},"modified":"2017-07-25T04:05:48","modified_gmt":"2017-07-25T04:05:48","slug":"alexandria-youth-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2017\/07\/25\/alexandria-youth-conference\/","title":{"rendered":"Alexandria Youth conference"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a> President Abdel Fattah El Sisi discussed a slew of political, economic, and foreign affairs <\/strong>issues during the latest youth conference<\/strong>, which kicked off yesterday in Alexandria. The president named terrorism and the ballooning population<\/a> as two of the country\u2019s biggest hurdles. He said it will be crucial for Egypt to stick to his administration\u2019s economic reform agenda if the country wants to overcome its \u201cdevelopment challenges,\u201d something Prime Minister Sherif Ismail also stressed<\/a> at the conference. El Sisi stressed that the reform program has already translated into an improvement in FX reserves, which are fast approaching pre-2011 levels, Ahram Gate reports<\/a><\/p>\n

Education as a national priority:<\/strong> One of the key takeaways from the conference is the signalling that education will be a bigger priority for the government moving forward. The president said Egypt\u2019s education system needs funding to the tune of EGP 180 bn per annum if quality is to improve, making the current budget allocation of EGP 60 bn insufficient, Al Borsa reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On foreign policy, <\/strong>El Sisi stressed that Egypt is not backing down<\/strong><\/a> from the Qatar <\/strong>blockade<\/strong>. The President also called on the Israeli leadership and people to avoid taking measures which would provoke Muslim sentiments when it comes to the Al Aqsa mosque crisis. His plea<\/a> (runtime: 2:38) comes as Egypt and other regional and international power look to calm the flare up resulting from closing the mosque to worshippers, which led to the death of at least eight Palestinians. Local political forces are looking to grandstand on the issue: A number of political parties looking to hold demonstrations in the Arab League, said Medhat El Zahid<\/a>, acting head of the Popular Socialist Coalition.<\/p>\n

Other takeaways from the conference:<\/p>\n