A Roundtable Discussion entitled “Egypt Today and its Future Challenges and Prospects” was jointly hosted by IDFR, IDB Alumni of Malaysia and the USC Alumni of Malaysia at IDFR on 28 July 2011.
Dr. Ali A. Soliman, an eminent scholar and former CEO and General Manager of the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector of the IDB was the guest speaker while the Hon. Datuk Dr. Ghazali Md. Noor, the Protem Chairman of the IDB Alumni of Malaysia and President of the USC Alumni of Malaysia moderated the session. H.E. Dato’ Ku Jaafar Ku Shaari, the Director General of IDFR gave the welcoming remarks.
In his talk, Dr. Ali A. Soliman said that the people’s uprising in Egypt, which led to the downfall of its previous regime, was the result of a number of factors including widespread poverty, high unemployment, perceived inefficiency and corruption in the government and the people’s yearning for a better life and freedom. He opined that Egypt would need at least one and a half years to recover from the political upheaval it went through before achieving political and economic stability.
The guest speaker also expressed the view that economic assistance, including investments in employment generating sectors of the economy will contribute towards Egypt’s recovery process. He was hopeful that the Arab countries and those from the developed world would assist his country in this regard.
Among the areas that he identified as possible areas for collaboration between Egypt and Malaysia included education, the petroleum industry, food industries, the automobile industry and tourism. He added that Malaysia could use Egypt as the gateway for its exports to Europe and Africa.
