Cairo, Egypt, 5 December – The Prime Minister of Egypt, H.E Mostapha Madbouli has officially launched the APRM Country Review Mission in Egypt. This is Egypt’s first Country Review since its accession to the APRM in 2003.

“subjecting ourselves to the Country Review Mission demonstrates our continuous efforts to improve governance in Egypt. This mission is particularly important because of the opportunity it affords us to underscore the importance of good governance as part of the ongoing administrative governance reforms in the Country”, said Prime Minister Madbouli.

H.E Madbouli further stated that he believes, “Egypt invested a lot in the last five years towards its efforts of improving governance narrative”. He said his government is in the process of building smart cities which will in turn improve the lives of Egyptians and governance in that country.

“I hope the review process will unearth all governments efforts to improve governance and thus improve the lives of all Egyptians”.

H.E Madbouli, while welcoming the Country Review team led by Lead Panellist for Egypt, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, encouraged ministers, government officials, heads of government institutions and other stakeholders to avail themselves for consultations with the review team.

In his remarks, Chairperson of the APR Panel of Eminent Persons and Lead Panel Member for Egypt, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari congratulated Egypt for the many governance reforms in the political, administrative, social and economic areas, as indicated in the Self-Assessment Report.

“We note with great satisfaction that as a result of these reforms economic growth has increased from 2.2 percent in 2013 to 5.5 in 2018. However as Egypt takes forward these reforms it faces the challenge of rising cost of living for its people”, asserted the Panel Chairperson. He further informed the launch meeting that over the course of the review process the Review team will engage various stakeholders to gain in-depth knowledge of the governance areas under focus, thus adding value to the country self-assessment report, which will in turn inform the development of the Country Review Report.

In his address, CEO of the APRM Continental Secretariat, Prof Eddy Maloka, said the launch of the Review Process marks an important day of commitment and charts a way forward by the people of Egypt in their quest for good governance.

Prof Maloka said, “the significance of Egypt submitting itself for Review has paramount importance for the APRM mainly because, it could set the momentum for other Arab League Countries to follow suite and could also attract other countries in the region who have not yet joined the Mechanism”. The APRM CEO further stated that the Continental Mechanism is neither a scorecard nor an instrument for conditionality of any sort but a tool for advancing good political and economic governance in participating Member States.

At the launch Prime Minister Madbouli officially handed over the Country Self-Assessment Report, which was received by the Panel Chairperson, Prof. Gambari. The Review Mission commenced on 29 November 2019 and will conclude on 14 December 2019. It is envisaged that the Country Review Report will be presented at the upcoming APRM Summit in February 2020.

Present at the launch were cabinet ministers, government officials, representatives of civil society organizations, APRM Country Review Consultants and officials from research institutions.

What is the Country Review Process….

Each country review is led by a member of the Panel of Eminent persons. The review team includes experts from outside the country under review. To prepare for the review the APRM Secretariat prepares a background paper and a paper outlining the major issues in the country. These guide the in-country activities of the review team. The duration of the review visit varies from country -to-country, however it is normally between two to three weeks.

During the visit the review team meets with the widest possible range of government, officials, political parties, parliamentarians and representatives of civil society organisations including the media, academia, trade unions, business and professional bodies. The purpose is to glean different perspectives on governance in the country and to clarify matters identified in the Issues Paper not considered in the preliminary Programme of Action of the country and to build consensus on how these could be addressed.

After its visit, the review team produces the country review report. This draft report is first discussed with the country concerned to ensure the information is accurate, giving government both an opportunity to react to the findings and suggest solutions. If government disagrees with its findings or wishes to comment, it has the right to append comments to the report as an attachment. At this stage the country also finalises its Programme of Action, taking into account the conclusions and recommendations of the draft report. When this is complete, the report and programme of action are presented to the ARP Forum of heads of state for discussion.

For inquiries please contact: Liziwe Selana (Head of Communications APRM)