Rania AlMashat participates in Women in Leadership Engagement Session

“I was raised to be gender blind. The dilemma is not about being a woman or a man, it’s about who can do it better and strive for more. Everyone can succeed. We just have to believe in ourselves and work on developing our skills set in order to be the best in what we wish to pursue,” said Minister of International Cooperation Rania A. Al-Mashat during J.P. Morgan’s “Women in Leadership Engagement Session” on March 29.

In a session moderated by Alison Livesey, the Managing Director, Wholesale Payments: Global Market Management, Business Transformation and Strategic Execution, Western European Country Head, at J.P. Morgan, Al-Mashat spoke about her personal career trajectory, and the importance of the economic inclusion of women.

“The biggest challenge for any policymaker in today’s world is how quickly environments change; we are constantly tested and pushed outside our comfort zone which necessitates that we remain vigilant and innovative in face of the constant change,”said Al-Mashat.

Sharing her own experiences, Al-Mashat stated that she was the youngest economist to join the International Monetary Fund (IMF), before being called by the Central Bank of Egypt to help in modernizing and introducing frameworks of monetary policy for 11 years as sub-governor. In August 2016, Al-Mashat went back to the IMF serving as an advisor to the chief economist at the time, and then in January 2018, she was appointed as Egypt’s Minister of Tourism, and now Egypt’s Minister of International Cooperation.