In a statement issued on Monday the board welcomed Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly’s invitation for the rapporteurs of the dialogue’s economic track to attend the conference.

Last week, Madbouly said the economic conference that the government plans to hold on 23-25 October, to draw a roadmap for the country's economy in the short and medium terms, will serve the objectives of the under-preparation National Dialogue.

The National Dialogue’s rapporteurs should be able to benefit from the outcomes of the conference and from its roadmap as they formulate the  executive plans for the economic track of the dialogue, the premier added.

“The [National Dialogue’s] board will follow up closely and with great interest on the course of the economic conference to get acquainted with all the data, policies, and orientations that the government will adopt toward economic issues discussed during the conference,” the board’s statement noted.

The board added that it intends to take into consideration the outcomes of the economic conference while discussing the issues pertaining to the national dialogue’s economic track.

The board also decided to communicate with the conference’s administration on the  various economic issues set to be discussed by the eight committees of the national dialogue's economic track.  

The economic track of the dialogue is composed of committees responsible for discussing the issues of inflation and high prices, public debt, budget deficit and financial reform, public investments priorities and state ownership policy, private investment (both domestic and foreign), industry, agriculture and food security, social justice and, finally, tourism.

Over the past two months, the 19 members of the board of trustees held ten meetings during which they selected rapporteurs and assistant rapporteurs for the dialogue's three main tracks (political, economic, and social) and 19 subcommittees.

After a committee concludes discussions of a certain track and comes up with recommendations, it will present the outcomes of the discussions to the dialogue’s board which sends them to President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi who makes the final decision, said Diaa Rashwan general coordinator of the National Political Dialogue on Sunday.

The dialogue was launched at the behest of President El-Sisi, during the annual Egyptian Family Iftar banquet on 26 April, who stressed that all intellectuals, syndicates and political forces were invited to participate in the dialogue.

The president affirmed that only one faction was excluded from the dialogue, a reference to the Muslim Brotherhood declared by Egypt as a terrorist organization since 2013.

The dialogue accords with Egypt's serious efforts to improve the status of human rights. It also comes just one year after El-Sisi outlined the country’s first homegrown National Strategy for Human Rights 2021-2026, which aims to guarantee  political, economic, social and cultural rights for all groups, including the marginalized.

The national dialogue will not only discuss pressing political, economic and social issues – such as high prices, education and public freedoms –  but will analyse them in order to come up with feasible solutions, the general coordinator asserted.

The dialogue's political track includes five subcommittees in a number of areas, namely the exercise of political rights and parliamentary representation, municipalities, human rights and public freedoms, political parties, civil society and syndicates.

The social track includes six subcommittees in areas such as education and scientific research, health, housing, social cohesion, culture and national identity, and youth.

Meanwhile, the board announced next Saturday as the deadline for submitting the names of participants and proposals on the issues that will be discussed during the sessions of the dialogue.

As per the decision, relevant parties, including the board and rapporteurs and assistant rapporteurs for the dialogue’s political, social and economic track committees, will be allowed to submit proposals until Saturday, a statement by the board read on Monday.

This process should pave the way for the start of the sessions of the dialogue, the statement noted. The statement follows the board's ninth and tenth meetings today to review the rapporteurs’ proposals regarding the dialogue’s work plans during the coming period.

In late September, General Coordinator of the National Dialogue Diaa Rashwan said the dialogue is set to officially begin within a few weeks.

During today’s meetings, the board decided to hold concurrent public sessions for the dialogue’s political, social, and economic tracks. The sessions are to be held at least three days per week, the statement noted.

The board will allow each of the three tracks to hold up to five weekly sessions based on the nature of the issues it discusses and in a way that allows the media and the press to cover the outcomes of the meetings, the statement added.