The Board of Trustees of the National Dialogue will kick off a new round of sessions to address various political, economic, and social challenges, Diaa Rashwan, head of the State Information Service (SIS), announced this week.
Rashwan’s announcement came after Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli met the National Dialogue’s 19-member Board of Trustees on 6 February. Madbouli said the challenges facing Egypt require that the National Dialogue hold a new round of sessions to discuss them.
There is also a directive from President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi to expand the scope of the National Dialogue to discuss a number of internal and external challenges and consult with the government on how to address them, Madbouli said.
“We fully appreciate the role the National Dialogue played in crystallising political, economic, and social reforms in the recent period, but we need this role to continue to include various segments of Egyptian society, including opposition figures, and to reach consensus on issues that concern Egypt,” he stated.
Egypt is experiencing important challenges in a period in which the world is witnessing unprecedented challenges, Madbouli said. “We want the National Dialogue to help the government to explore public opinion on these challenges, including Israel’s plan to relocate the Palestinians to Egypt,” he added.
The government is doing everything possible to contain any escalation and ensure the full implementation of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas and the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, Madbouli said.
The National Dialogue and the government should also discuss a number of internal issues, such as proposals to scrap in-kind welfare subsidies in favour of cash receipts, introduce a new high school exam system (the Baccalaureate), and amend the rent law and others, he said.
He said that many recommendations from the first round of the National Dialogue in the economic field were adopted in the government’s policy statement delivered before parliament last July, while the remaining recommendations are being studied before being implemented.
A case in point is that a new social protection package will be announced in the coming days. “We will officially know the ins and outs of the new social protection package within a few days, and it will come into effect before the holy month of Ramadan, while another package of minimum wage hikes and pension increases will come into effect starting in the next fiscal year, which starts in July,” Madbouli said.
He asked the dialogue’s Board of Trustees to submit a report including all its recommendations, what was implemented and what was not and why. He also asked the board to identify the most important priorities in the legislative and political agenda in the coming phase to move to implement them immediately.
Rashwan said a meeting between Madbouli, members of the National Dialogue’s economic committees, and cabinet ministers in charge of economic portfolios will be held soon to review the recommendations that came out of the first round of the National Dialogue and see why some were implemented and others were not.
He said that the last quarter of this year will witness various political developments, the most important of which is the holding of elections to choose a new House of Representatives and Senate.
“There are a number of legislative reforms that the National Dialogue has submitted to the government in this respect, such as amending the law on the exercise of political rights and the law on civil work, as well as some procedures related to press and academic freedoms,” Rashwan said.
He explained that the National Dialogue’s Board of Trustees had devoted its last two sessions to discussing the security developments in the Gaza Strip and Israel’s plan to forcibly displace the Palestinians from their land.
“We stand with the government and the political leadership in their firm rejection of any displacement plans,” Rashwan said.
According to Rashwan, the meeting with Madbouli has also discussed the prisoner pardon initiative, which was among the recommendations of the National Dialogue’s Board of Trustees, describing it as an important step that confirms the state’s desire to continue to improve the human-rights situation in Egypt.
“But we need more in this direction, as we hope that more political prisoners will be released in the coming stage,” Rashwan said.
He announced on Saturday that four new public figures will join the National Dialogue’s Board of Trustees to enhance its role in society and ensure a broader representation of all political and other forces.
The new members are Ashraf Al-Sheehi, a former minister of higher education and scientific research and a member of Homat Watan (Protectors of the Land) Party, Ihab Al-Tamawi, deputy chairman of parliament’s Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee, Diaaeddin Dawoud, a leftist-oriented MP, and Amr Hamzawy, a professor of political science.
The first round of the National Dialogue led to building bridges of trust and creating common ground between the government and various political forces, said Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Mahmoud Fawzi.
Fawzi indicated that the National Dialogue’s committees now include representatives of 65 parties, and that now there is no political faction that does not have a representative in the National Dialogue, making it reflect the political spectrum.
Some 256 recommendations were issued by the National Dialogue after holding 110 sessions attended by thousands of participants, with the aim of presenting different visions of political, economic, and social issues, Fawzi recalled.
The first phase of the National Dialogue’s sessions achieved positive results, particularly in the human-rights field, Amr Hamzawy, a newly-appointed member of the Board of Trustees, said.
Hamzawy said in statements to the media that the second phase of the dialogue should focus on coordinating with the government on the implementation of political reforms.
“These reforms include amendments to the laws on the exercise of political rights, political parties, parliamentary elections, and local administration,” he said.
“Today, we have a real opportunity to find radical solutions to achieve permanent stability and ensure the cohesion of the internal front against foreign threats by implementing the recommendations of the National Dialogue and achieving consensus on the legislative and political priorities that must top the national agenda in the coming stage.”
* A version of this article appears in print in the 13 February, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
Short link: