This review was carried out by the Productivity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (PIE) Division of the OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation (STI), supporting the Committee on Industry, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE). This review was prepared by Won Hee Cho and Ilaria Goretti, with substantial research input from Nada Hazem, under the supervision and guidance of Andrew Green (Team Lead) and Guy Lalanne (Head of PIE Division). This project began under the guidance of Chiara Criscuolo and Francesco Manaresi whose efforts were key to getting the project underway. Ali Alsamawi and Márcio Carvalho provided invaluable assistance during the initial phase of the project. Abdelrahman Hassanein provided excellent research assistance. Chahir Zaki provided insightful comments. Administrative and technical support from Charles-Édouard Van De Put and Shai Somek was indispensable.
This review benefitted from the feedback of Fares Al Hussami (DAF), Julien Dupont (SDD), Yoshuke Jin (ECO), Alan Paic (STI) and Jonathan Potter (CFE). Neil Bouwer, Stefano Costa and Petr Sedlacek from the Advisory Board also provided helpful comments.
The project also greatly benefitted from three workshops organised by the OECD Secretariat in collaboration with internaitonal experts, aimed at strengthening Egypt’s micro-data. Special thanks to Monica Canafoglia (UNCITRAL), Stefano Costa (Italy), Elif Tuğce Çınar (Türkiye), Ayanda Hlatshwayo (South Africa), Rico Konen (Netherlands), Dan Mawson (UK), Erica Morganti (EUROSTAT), Fernanda Negri (Brazil), Graham Pilgrim (OECD), Markku Stenborg (Finland) and Mehmet Oğuzhan Üstün (Türkiye).
The OECD Secretariat is grateful for the support from the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development (MPED), particularly Heba Youssef (the Head of Country Program Monitoring Unit), Mariam Ehab and Nur Islam, as well as the General Authority for Investments and Free Zones (GAFI), particularly Dahlia El-Hawary (the Vice President), Eman Mansour (the Head of the Investment Policies Sector), Amr Abo El-Fetouh and Fatma Safwat Abdelaziz. The support of the MPED and GAFI team were invaluable in coordinating and enabling discussions in a fact-finding mission in Cairo on 24-27 October 2022 and policy mission in Cairo on 30 September-3 October 2024. In these missions the team exchanged with the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), Egyptian Tax Authority (ETA), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI), Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA), General Organization for Export and Import Control (GOEIC), Industrial Development Authority (IDA), Industrial Modernisation Center (IMC), International Labour Organisation (ILO), Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (MSMEDA), Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MCIT), Ministry of Manpower (MOMP), Suez Canal Authority (SCA), United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and World Bank.