Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi said on Saturday that the government has assisted scientific research and related projects with nearly EGP 3bn, insisting that the state is working to support young researchers to facilitate all difficulties facing them.
This came as Al-Sisi attended the National Conference for Scientific Research, along with Prime Minister Sherif Ismail and other ministers, as well as Egyptian scientists, researches, and innovators. During the conference, organised by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Al-Sisi hailed young researchers, saying all people now “live in an era of science and technological challenges.”
The funding the president mentioned included “developing laboratories with EGP 500m, supporting essential research with EGP 540m, and sustaining youth, young innovators, and researchers with EGP 100m,” Al-Sisi said. He added that the funding also “promoted developing energy, agriculture, water, and local manufacturing projects, as well as linking scientific research with industry and technological incubators with more than EGP 600m.” He also said the funding supported international cooperation with more than EGP 240m, and made available databases, scientific magazines, and references through the Egyptian Knowledge Bank with nearly EGP 1bn. The government also provided EU-funded scholarships for scientific research with EGP 500m, the president said.
He welcomed the attendees, expressing his pleasure at meeting “young Egyptian scientists, both women and men, at this event.” He further said, “Egypt is facing challenges due to international, regional, and internal situations such as terrorism, political instability following 2011, or even economic conditions,” insisting that the government “seeks to steady the Egyptian state and its institutions to regain stability, without which we won’t be able to tackle our issues.”
He went on to say that the government did not “resort to [temporary solutions] that create more harm than benefits. We didn’t promote illusions or false hopes. But we told the Egyptians the facts as they are.”
Al-Sisi also pointed out that scientific research is “a strategic choice to overcome difficulties that face development plans,” emphasising, “scientific research is a strategic choice to avoid haphazardness [in decision making].”
