Egypt's women empowerment a must

Minister of Investment and International Cooperation Sahar Nasr stressed the need for women's economic empowerment, as it will lead to an increase of about 26% in the world economy.
This came during the launch of the MENA-OECD Women's Economic Empowerment Forum under the slogan "closing the gender gap to promote competitiveness".

She added that by increasing private sector participation and concerted efforts on the regional dimension, the unemployment rate of women in the region will fall to about 20%.

She added that the launch of the forum comes at the right time, as it keeps pace with the early announcement of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi that 2017 is the year of the woman.

The minister pointed out that all groups are currently benefitting from the economic reform programme, which is not limited to economic measures, but also includes a social protection package to girls or women from the neediest governorates.