Mubarak reviews with economic group privatization plan
The economic group, at its meeting yesterday under President Mubarak, discussed the future plan for the management of the public assets and investments in the framework of the programme of expanding the base ownership, full dressed community partnership between the state and the private sector in the management of these assets and investments.
The President called for keeping the public opinion informed of the measures to be taken on the future position of the state-owned companies and other companies in which the private sector is taking part and how to run the strategic projects which will continue to be owned by the state. The President underlined the need for maintaining the rights of labour in the case of the projects which would be privatized.
President Mubarak discussed the future plan for the management and privatization of the state assets within a programme of widening the ownershop base, said presidential spokesman Magid Abdsel Fattah.
During a meeting on Saturday with the ministerial economic group at the Presidential Palace in Heliopolis, Mubarak addressed the position of the state-owned 172 companies which employ more than 401,000 workers getting a total payment of LE 4.5 billions, said Abdel Fattah.
He also discussed the status of 695 private companies in which the state has shares to see how and when these shares could be sold.
He discussed with the group the criteria that should be applied in offering these companies for sale in order to procure the highest returns based on a realistic evaluation that upholds the interests of all sides, especially the workers.
The meeting also discussed a programme to restructure the companies and upgrade them to the point where they could procure the highest price when offered for sale.
They also discussed the application of strict management rules, grooming second and third lines of leadership and adopting as much transparency in revealing the activities, losses and profits of the state-owned companies together with emphasizing the role of the auditing and control agencies. President Mubarak stressed the importance of making the public aware of the proceeding of the whole operation, said the spokesman.
Mubarak okayed a five-member assessment committee grouping the Central Audits Agency, the Capital Market, the Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank of Egypt and a member from the Egyptian Society of Auditors and Account Controllers.
The committee will be tasked with the approval of the proposed evaluations of the assets offered for sale within 30 days of the report submission, he added.
He said that the ownership of strategic projects, however, will remain in the possession of the state although foreign managements might be appointed without breaching the rules of national security and the state's general strategy.