The board of trustees was formed after consultations with political forces, syndicates and other participants in the dialogue, which lasted for about 20 days, a statement by the dialogue administration read.

The board will be invited to its first meeting “within few days,” the statement said.

Board members include Head of Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies (ACPSS) Mohamed Fayez Farahat, Deputy Head of the ACPSS Amr Hashem Rabie, and Editor-in-Chief of Al-Ahram Al-Arabi weekly magazine Gamal El-Keshki.

President of the National Council for Women (NCW) Maya Morsy and Coordinator of the Arab States Civil Society Organisations and Feminists Network Fatma Khafagy are among the board members.

Members also include Senate member and journalist Emad El-Din Hussein and House of Representatives’ members Ahmed El-Sharkawy, Amira Saber, and Talaat Abdel-Kawy, president of the General Federation of NGOs and Foundations (FNGO).

Cairo University’s international relations professor Reham Bahy, journalism professor Mahmoud Alam El-Din, commercial and maritime law professor Hani Sarie El-Din, and economy professor Goda Abdel-Khalek, a former social solidarity minister, are members.

Board members also include political researcher and author Samir Morcos and journalists Abdel-Azim Hammad, Fatma El-Sayed Ahmed, and Mohamed Salmawy.

Human rights lawyer Negad El-Borai and Businessman Kamal Zayed are members.

“This formation comes to reflect the effective and diverse engagement of the various national visions and technical and professional expertise to ensure that the dialogue yields positive results that serve the Egyptian citizen,” the statement stated.

Egypt is preparing to hold its first sessions of the national political dialogue during the first week of July with Head of the Journalists Syndicate Diaa Rashwan as a general coordinator.

In remarks to media, Rashwan said the dialogue’s board of trustees will be in charge of the coordination process of the multi-axial, multi-stage dialogue and will take final decisions on the dialogue’s preliminary results to be submitted to the president.

Last week, Rashwan said the dialogue will be conducted within a framework of freedom of opinion and discussions by well-informed experts.

Invitations have been sent to hundreds of Egyptians inside and outside the country, Rashwan said, noting that the dialogue has not been rejected by any of the political forces.

Those willing to join the dialogue can submit their requests at the National Youth Conference’s website.

The dialogue has been called by El-Sisi during the annual Egyptian Family Iftar banquet on 26 April for “all political forces without any exceptions or discrimination.”

Multiple political parties have welcomed the step and expressed willingness to join the dialogue.

A statement by the dialogue’s administration earlier this month announced inviting “the largest possible number of representatives of the Egyptian social classes and institutions to conduct an effective national dialogue.”

“This aims to make sure that all the categories are represented in the societal dialogue and to ensure access to all regions of the republic in coordination with all partisan and youth political currents,” the statement said.

The dialogue’s administration is also receiving proposals and inquiries via WhatsApp at 01025521555 - 0109388883.

The dialogue comes amid steps taken by the country to advance its human rights situation as part of the National Strategy for Human Rights launched in September.