Photo courtesy of the spokesperson for the Egyptian presidency.
The meeting, attended by Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, Planning Minister Ahmed Rustom, and senior OECD officials, focused on strengthening cooperation under the country programme launched in 2021 and advancing economic and institutional reform.
Presidency Spokesman Mohamed El-Shennawy said El-Sisi welcomed Cormann’s visit and expressed appreciation for the OECD’s support for Egypt’s reform efforts and comprehensive development.
The president stressed Egypt’s aspiration to increase cooperation with the organization in the fields of economy, investment, competitiveness, and governance, El-Shennawy added.
El-Sisi reviewed government measures aimed at enhancing private-sector participation in development and encouraging investment by improving legislative and institutional frameworks.
He also highlighted the social aspect of reforms, noting progress in removing unsafe informal settlements, benefiting around 350,000 families through more than 300,000 new, fully equipped housing units.
The president referred to initiatives including the elimination of surgical waiting lists and the implementation of the two phases of the Haya Karima initiative, which is set to benefit more than 50 million citizens.
El-Sisi said Egypt had adopted proactive measures over the past five years to address global crises, earning praise from international financial institutions, and is following the same approach in dealing with the current crisis linked to the war in Iran, according to the spokesman.
He added that Egypt has lost around $10 billion in Suez Canal revenues due to attacks on shipping in the Bab Al-Mandeb Strait amid the ongoing war in Gaza, while hosting around 10 million foreigners displaced by conflicts who receive the same services as Egyptian citizens without political use of the issue.
Cormann, for his part, expressed appreciation for the visit and praised Egypt’s role in promoting stability in the Middle East, as well as its engagement with the OECD, including its co-chairmanship of the organization’s Middle East and North Africa initiative on governance and competitiveness for development.
He noted that the Egyptian economy has demonstrated resilience amid global and geopolitical challenges, thanks to reforms implemented in recent years.
He added that the OECD is ready to build on the success of its country programme with Egypt to support national priorities for economic growth and sustainable development.
Egypt’s cooperation with the OECD has developed over nearly two decades into a structured partnership supporting economic reform, governance, and private-sector development.
Egypt has been an active participant in the OECD’s Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Initiative on Governance and Competitiveness for Development since 2005, a platform aimed at improving investment conditions, public governance, and regulatory frameworks across the region.
Cairo currently co-chairs parts of the initiative, reflecting its role as a key regional partner.
Cooperation deepened in the 2010s to include technical support in areas such as investment policy, anti-corruption frameworks, small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) development, and tax administration, with OECD standards increasingly used as benchmarks in Egypt’s reform programme.
A major step came in 2021 with the launch of the OECD–Egypt Country Programme, a multi-year framework designed to support structural reforms, enhance the business environment, and promote inclusive and sustainable growth.
The programme covers sectors including digital transformation, competition policy, trade, green growth, and labour market inclusion.
Through the programme, Egypt gains access to OECD policy tools, peer reviews, and comparative data, helping align domestic policies with international best practices without full membership in the organization.
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