Egypt's Minister of Tourism Rania Al-Mashat took part on Tuesday in a forum on the future of the digital economy in Egypt, held by Google after announcing the hiring of a working team in the company headquarters in Egypt.

The session was attended by Egypt's Minister of Social Solidarity Ghada Waly, the general manager of Google's business operations in the Middle East and North Africa Lino Cattaruzzi, the general manager of Google in Egypt Hisham Al-Nazer, and other Google officials.

The session was moderated by Selim Edde, Google's head of public policy and government relations for the Middle East and North Africa.

During the session, Al-Mashat pointed out that shifting to a digital economy has became a priority in supporting Egypt's ongoing economic reforms.

The minister stated that innovation and digitalisation are integral aspects of the structural reform programme for developing the tourism sector launched by the ministry last November to keep pace with the most recent trends, as well as the technological advancements in the tourism industry.

Al-Mashat explained that despite the negative effects of the fourth industrial revolution on job opportunities in some fields, especially with the rapid technological advancements, the tourism sector remains one of the most important sectors that creates new job opportunities that keep up with these updates through the emerging companies that work in tourism.

Al-Mashat revealed plans for cooperation between the Ministry of Tourism and Google, referring to her previous encounter with the company's representatives on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum for the Middle East and North Africa that was held in Jordan last April.

The forms of cooperation include the creation of photographs of some Egyptian touristic sites and promoting them through innovative visual means as well as creating interactive promotional applications for Egyptian museums.

Al-Mashat also discussed with Google officials ways of enhancing the current level of cooperation and making use of digital training programmes that Google offers to boost different skills for workers in the tourism sector in Egypt.