By : Rasha Hussein

The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation (MBRF) and Egypt are exploring various avenues to strengthen scientific, knowledge and educational collaboration. Furthermore, they aim at boosting the role of knowledge in developing skills of the youth in order to enable them to keep up with the future market that is witnessing constant internal and external evolutions that require special and nontraditional skills and abilities.

The development came during a visit of an MBRF delegation led by His Excellency Jamal Bin Huwaireb, CEO of MBRF, to Egypt. Meetings were held with Dr. Mohamed Ayman Ashour, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Khaled Abdelghaffar, Minister of Health and Population, Dr. Reda Hegazy, Minister of Education and Technical Education, Muhammad Othman Elkhosht, President of Cairo University, Hassan el Beblawi, Secretary General of the Arab Council for Childhood and Development (ACCD), Eng. Mohamed Hena, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Vodafone Egypt Foundation for Community Development, Said Abdo, Head of the Egyptian Publishers Union, Mohamed Rashad, President of Arab Publishers Association, and Seham Najm, head of the Women and Society Association.

In these meetings, various discussions were held addressing the need for stronger partnerships in the fields of science, knowledge and education. H.E. Bin Huwaireb highlighted the strong bilateral ties between the two countries, especially in science and knowledge. He lauded Egypt’s achievements in recent years in attaining solid developments in education and scientific research.

Various areas of mutual interest were explored during the meeting, such as enhancing Egypt’s position in the Global Knowledge Index, preparing the youth to face future challenges and gain the necessary skills to stay up to date with the market by encouraging entrepreneurship, research, and innovation. Additionally, discussions were held to boost the efforts in eliminating illiteracy, launching the Knowledge Youth Authority to cater for knowledge issues amongst the youth, along with implementing various mutual activities to maintain connectivity with the youth, including knowledge forums and weeks, workshops, and practical training sessions. They also focused on the importance of preparing the coming generations to stay updated with modern technological developments and to adopt them in various sectors to keep in pace with international developments, developing youth’s capacities since early ages, and most importantly achieving a prosperous future.