USAID/Egypt Information/Press : 25 June 2003 - U.S., Egypt Co-host Major Economic Conference

"Rising to the Challenge" draws top public/private leaders, Nobel laureate

Cairo, Egypt -- Experts from the United States and Egypt are joining forces to discuss the economic challenges confronting Egypt, including unemployment and currency rates. The major conference June 25-26, named "Rising to the Challenge: International Crisis and Economic Management in Egypt," is co-hosted by the United States through its Agency for International Development (USAID) in partnership with the Center for Economic and Financial Research and Studies, part of Cairo University's Faculty of Economics and Political Sciences.

Nobel Prize-winning economist Robert Mundell addresses Egyptian reporters June 25, 2003

The economic reform conference has drawn scores of leading academics and policy makers including:

 U.S. Ambassador David Welch

 Egyptian Prime Minister Atef Ebeid

 Egyptian Minister of Planning Osman M. Osman.

 Nobel Prize-winning economist Robert Mundell, the keynote speaker (pictured at right).

 Members of the Egyptian Parliament and representatives of the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, International Labor Organization, the European Union،¦s Industrial Modernization Center, USAID/Egypt, and the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Trade.

 Academics from Cairo University's Faculty of Economics and Political Sciences, Ain Shams University, University of Southern California, and the Egyptian Center for Economic Studies.

 Private-sector leaders from the investing, banking and trading sectors.

The conference sessions are examining Egypt's most pressing current economic challenges while searching for constructive approaches. Topics include managing currency exchange rates and the government budget deficit; the potential for economic integration across the Arab region; and investment strategies in times of crisis. Nobel laureate Mundell, a ColumbiaUniversity professor who strongly influenced the policies of U.S. Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Ronald Reagan, devoted his keynote speech to the persistence of poverty. Other panel members discussed the Assistance to Trade Reform project, in which USAID/Egypt is helping the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Trade meet standards set by the World Trade Organization.

The U.S. has provided $2.34 billion in budget support to the Egyptian government since 1975 to encourage economic reform, as well as more than $200 million in technical assistance in the last decade for reform in areas including trade, customs, the financial sector and intellectual property. For more information on USAID/Egypt's efforts to strengthen the environment for trade and investment in Egypt, see http://www.usaid-eg.org/detail.asp?id=8.