Mubarak call on private industry to focus on research to solve problems
Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak stressed on Monday that the future of Egypt was contingent upon developing scientific research, said Presidential spokesman Solaiman Awwad.
During a ministerial meeting at the presidential headquarters on Monday, Mubarak underlined the importance of establishing close cooperation between the scientific research sector and the private sector in Egypt.
Because there are so many problems facing the state-owned agencies and the private sector, they all should resort to the scientific research to find practical solutions to these problems, he said.
The spokesman said that Mubarak was keen on developing the scientific research mechanism with all its institutions either those coming up with ideas like the Specialized National Councils or those carrying out policies of scientific research.
Awwad said that the state's investments in the scientific research rose from 0.3 % of the Gross national product (GNP) in 1982 to 0.9 % in 2004.
But he added that financial allocations given to the scientific research are still less than 1 % of the GNP.
The President said that the private sector should be aware of the benefits it will get if it started having investments in the scientific research domain.
Mubarak make it cleared that spending on this field are 90 % funded by the state and the rest by the private sector in comparison to countries in South Eastern Asia where the state spends between 30-35 % on the scientific research and the rest is undertaken by the private sector.
Awwad said that Mubarak assigned Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, Minister of Higher Education and State for Scientific Research Amr Ezzat Salama to coordinate with the rest of ministries, scientific bodies and the education and scientific research committees at the People's Assembly and Shura Council to complete presenting the plan on developing scientific research so that it can be endorsed at a national conference to take place on May 28.
The spokesman added that today's three-hour meeting comes as part of Mubarak's keenness on holding a series of meetings tackling the ten programs mentioned in the policy statement on December 14.