Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El Molla has highlighted the comprehensive development and upgrading of Egypt’s mining sector through the implementation of an integrated modernization program.

This came during his participation in the ninth consultative meeting of Arab ministers of mineral resources on the sidelines of the International Mining Conference held in Saudi Arabia.

The minister added that the program successfully enhanced the sector’s competitiveness, attracting massive Arab and foreign investments through gold and mineral bid rounds.

He highlighted the seven pillars of the development program, which focused on enhancing mining legislation as well as  reforming the financial and licensing systems.  This is in addition to adopting the policy of maximizing the added value from minerals, building capabilities, digitalization and developing mining promotion strategies.

The meeting also involved a presentation about the Arab world’s initiatives and mutual efforts for developing the mining industry. They reviewed the results of the first phase of the mining guidance system developed by the Arab Organization for Industrial Development, Standardization and Mining.

The meeting also witnessed a presentation about digitizing mining raw materials production data in Arab countries with a business intelligence system and developing a platform for requests and offers for Arab industrial and mining products. It also discussed initiatives to revive old mines and quarries to achieve sustainable development. The meeting reviewed updates related to the Arab Platform for Future Minerals, specifically clean energy minerals as a first stage, as well as its official launch.