Egypt to host economic conference on February 3-4

On February 3-4, Cairo is to host a conference regulated by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank along with the Egyptian Center for Economic Studies.

The conference will be held under the title "Future Horizons of the Egyptian Economy," to discuss four main issues: foreign trade liberalization and promotion, savings and financial system reform within the context of recent global financial difficulties, human capital development, and legal and institutional reform.

The conference will inaugurated by Minister of Economy Youssef Ghali and experts from the Harvard Institute for International Development and Center for Institutional Reform and the Informal Sector (IRIS) at the University of Maryland at College Park are to take part.

The conference will also include workshops which will consider the most important economic changes and their expected reflection on the world's economies generally and the Egyptian economy specifically.

The head of Egyptian Center for Economic Studies, Dr. Taher Helmi, said the conference will discuss the effectiveness of the banking system and its effect on education, as well as its role in raising productivity rates.