Report: 2000 State of the Future in Egypt
by Dr. Kamal Z. Mahmoud

Challenges:

1. The challenge of economic and technological development in the global era:

The Egyptian Economy has gone through several stages of reform . The initial stages were undertaken in close consultation with the IMF & in accordance with mutual agreed recommendations. The Egyptian government has been adopting a gradual reform that takes into consideration the social dimension so as to avoid any form of political instability. The Egyptian government continues to implement a large-scale program for privatization & economic liberalization and inaccordance with a free market economy approach despite the related problems, such as the expected increase of unemployment rate and the difficulty of getting the appropriate return for selling assets in some particular cases.

The real challenge facing the Egyptian Economy in the near future lies in:

The necessity of forming a strategic vision for development that take into account issues such as: priorities, conditions and domains of investment and the entrepreneur role to be played by the government in the realm of financing and market performance.

Addressing the difficulties, impediments and impact of economic globalization and its related cluster of concepts, issues and practices on national economy. (In such a context a dynamic body of interactions is in need of in-depth analysis. We should take into account here the interactive negotiating agenda of the WTO, Transnational Corporations, THE THIRD WAY adherents, G-15 States and operationalization of Arab Common Market ( African, E.C. , Mediterrian African Countries and USA).

Establishing and creating the effective modalities and the scientific base that would enable us to face the complicated economic challenges. In such a context, a committee for technological development was established, and a special attention was given to establish the city of Mubarak for scientific research. New centers for future Studies are set up and a new city for new fields of scientific inquiry is being established under the supervision of Noble Prize Laureat Ahmed Zewail. In addition, information technology projects were given all due attention and efforts.

2. The challenge of political and democratic development:

The political system in Egypt has gone through several stages in the last decades. It has witnessed a transformation to a democratic system based on a limited multi-party system. Such a transformation led to a revival of the civil society in Egypt, where a large number of NGO's in the fields of development and human rights came into existence.

The real challenges in this context lies in:

How to expand political pluralism processes in a way that best serve the purpose of improving the performance of the civil society and the country at large?

How to reach a just and everlasting peace in a region that is free from weapons of mass-destruction as a necessary avenue for stability and economic progress in the Middle East?

3. The challenge of cultural and social development in the context of value conflicts.

The real challenges here lies in striking a balance between the value system of modernity and cultural globalization on one hand and the cultural and religious values of the Egyptian society on the other hand.

The challenge here is to identify ,face & contain the possible new generation of challenges on the level of cultural and social development that may result from the interaction of the two value systems of cultural globalization and the traditional value system of the Egyptian society. The Egyptian civil society must create the necessary modalities and appropriate approaches to handle the possible future cultural and social challenges & difficulties that may take place due to movements of forces of rationalism, true enlightenment and progress versus forces of stagnation and authoritarianism with all its various forms. The role of woman should be enhanced in such a context. The real challenge to address the current and potential value conflicts on the social and cultural levels lies in an orchestration of the educational and media processes to enhance the norms and the skills of the culture of positive negotiation in the society at large. Such skills are needed to address and handle the cluster of value issues that in reality over arch all future challenges facing the development and progress in Egypt.

This brief report is the result of extensive roundtable discussions by:

Dr. Kamal Shaeer, Dr. I. S. Abdalla, Mr. Sayed Yassin, Dr. Awatef Abdul Rahamn, Dr. Ahmed Shawky, Dr. S. Dagani, Dr. Dia Eldin Zaher , Dr. Hassan M. Wageih Hassan, Dr. Mohamed Z. Ewis , Dr. Mohamed Raouf Hamed , and Dr. Atef Sherif .

Correspondence :
e-mail: kzmahmoud@hotmail.com.
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