Dr. Mohamed Awad:
Engaging investors and the private sector in assessing reforms helps identify their needs more accurately.
In line with the directives of Dr. Mohamed Farid Saleh, Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade (MIFT Minister), to continuously monitor developments in the investment environment and assess its evolving needs, Dr. Mohamed Awad, CEO of the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI CEO), welcomed Dr. Nihal El-Megharbel, Executive Director of the Egyptian Observatory for Evaluation and Policy Making, to discuss cooperation in assessing and measuring the impact of investment-related policies, legislation, and procedures.
The two sides agreed to prepare a cooperation protocol outlining areas of joint work, including conducting studies and assessing the impact of investment policies, legislation, and procedures, as well as training and capacity building, in addition to exploring avenues for cooperation with the private sector.
The two sides reviewed opportunities to conduct applied studies to assess the impact of incentives targeting investors, streamline procedures and reduce the burdens and time required to obtain services, expand their digitization and online accessibility, and measure the outcomes of these measures.
Dr. Mohamed Awad underscored the importance of evaluation mechanisms as part of the development of GAFI’s 2026–2030 strategy, noting the importance of objectively and systematically measuring the outcomes of policies and procedures and leveraging evaluation findings to identify areas for improvement.
He also stressed the importance of maintaining continuous dialogue with the business community and private sector, noting that discussions are underway on engaging investors in assessing reforms and identifying priority challenges and investor needs.
The two sides also discussed the possibility of developing a cooperation model bringing together GAFI, the Observatory, and the private sector, in addition to cooperation in training and capacity building in the areas of policy evaluation, impact assessment, and monitoring methodologies.
