On June 5, 2022, ECFA hosted Ambassador Ashraf Rashed, Head of the National Committee for Governance in the framework of Egypt’s membership of the African Peer Review Mechanism, to talk about “Egypt’s role in the framework of the governance mechanism in the African continent.” The meeting was opened by Ambassador Dr. Mounir Zahran, ECFA Chairman, and attended by Ambassadors: Dr. Ezzat Saad, ECFA Director, Ali Al-Hefny, Youssef Al-Sharqawi, Dr. Hazem Atiatallah, Dr. Sadiq Abdel-Al, First Secretary Mohamed Mohsen, and Mr. Fadi Khalil, as well as a number of researchers. Ambassador Rashed indicated that the African Peer Review Mechanism began its work on March 9, 2003, as a tool for exchanging experiences among African countries, to promote best practices, and support capacity-building for the countries of the continent, based on a self-monitoring and self-assessment process carried out voluntarily by the member states of the mechanism, pointing out that the number of countries that joined it has so far reached 42, out of a total of 55 African countries, and that Egypt joined in March 2004, while by 2016 it witnessed a strong political will for the country to carry out the review process, as the government, under the leadership of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, began preparing for that process, by establishing the necessary national structures, in accordance with Prime Ministerial Decrees No. 1896 of 2017 and 1524 of 2018, which included the appointment of a focal point, a secretariat, and a national committee, comprising 20 members, which includes the preparation of the national strategy to implement the requirements of the mechanism. Accordingly, Egypt submitted its first self-assessment report in November 2019, as the review mission dispatched by the mechanism, which included 19 African experts headed by Professor Ibrahim Gambari, visited Egypt in December 2019, and prepared the review report on Egypt, and the report was presented at the summit of the mechanism that was held on February 8, 2020, in the presence of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. The summit adopted the report during the delegation’s visit to Cairo on February 20-23, 2022.
In this regard, it is noteworthy that the report dealt with Egypt’s position on human rights in a comprehensive manner, socially, economically and politically, as well as combating corruption and terrorism, and economic, administrative and social structural reforms in Egypt, including issues of women, energy, social initiatives, infrastructure, education…etc. It also stipulated that one of the best practices that other African countries can benefit from and learn from Egypt is the term “transformational leadership”, which indicates the existence of an inspiring leadership for the state, directing its subordinates to adopting better goals. These practices also include the National Training Academy, the Presidential Leadership Program, the “Benban” solar power station, and the promotion of religious harmony in the country, as well as the scientific and educational efforts that led to the inclusion of ten Egyptian universities in the World University Rankings, thus ranking first in Africa. ECFA members expressed their appreciation for the role of the committee and the self-Assessment, while affirming the need to pay attention to the local development file and the importance of the governance of local administrations within the Egyptian state, as well as the need to highlight the work of the committee and promote it in the media on a regular and continuous basis, to introduce its tasks and achievements, and to enhance confidence in the efforts and achievements of the Egyptian state.
