Under the framework of SRI project, the Ministry of Communication & Information Technology (MCIT) in coordination with the Centre of Environment and Development in the Arab Region and Europe (CEDARE convened the overall sixth steering committee meeting overall and the first in the second phase of the project. The meeting was scheduled on February 24th and was held at the MCIT premises.
The Steering Committee meeting was attended by all the partners of the project ranging from the government representatives of the ministry of communication & information technology, the ministry of environment, the ministry of trade, the ministry of finance, the international partners of the project from SOFIES, and the team of CEDARE.
The Steering Committee meeting commenced with an overview of the SRI activities in Egypt of the first phase of the project from 2016 to 2018 and was followed by introducing the planned activities of the second phase of the overall SRI programme. The presentation by the two implementing arms of the project as in Sofies & CEDARE explained in detail the planned activities for the present year 2020 and those carried out in the last three months of 2019. The floor was then opened for feedback on the planned activities from the steering committee members.
Eng. Khaled El Attar, the head of SRI steering committee and the Vice Minister of Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MCIT) highlighted the importance of the SRI project being part of the Digital Transformation Agenda of the Ministry. Given the fact that digital penetration in Egypt is growing thanks to many initiates in Egypt, eventually also the e-waste volumes will increase. Therefore, e-waste management is now one of the 5 pillars of the state digital strategy.
In order to move the project further, streamline between different activities in the different ministries and come up with a plan how to take the project and its objectives to the parliament, Eng. El Attar proposed to have a workshop of the National Take-Back Committee.