Reviving Remittances: Egypt Explores Exporting High-Skilled Workers to Boost Economy

Members of Egypt’s cabinet, including Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, held a meeting on 9 January to explore exporting trained and skilled Egyptians for labour abroad.

The meeting, also attended by the ministers of foreign affairs, higher education, education, emigration, and labour, was a follow-up to the topic previously discussed months earlier according to a cabinet social media statement.

During the meeting, Madbouly emphasised the significant attention the idea receives based on the volume of requests coming from various countries, highlighting European states in particular.

“This necessitates better preparing technical workers and trained labourers to meet these demands…and provide new job opportunities for trained workers to keep pace with global developments,” the statement reads.

The Prime Minister also called for workshops and training programs to provide further qualifications to exported workforces, in addition to streamlining the process for any necessary licenses for their work abroad.

“Our goal is to create pathways for legal migration by studying labour markets and the needs of destination countries, concluding agreements on labour mobility,” Minister of Emigration and Expatriate Affairs Soha Gendi was quoted saying in the statement.

“This is in addition to combating illegal migration and maximising the benefit from Egyptians returning from abroad by working on their rehabilitation according to market needs and their aspirations,” she added.

The meeting was concluded with a decision to merge groups of relevant ministers and officials into a team to develop a comprehensive action plan.

While not mentioned during the meeting, remittances – Egypt’s biggest source of foreign currency – are another significant motivator in increasing the number of Egyptian expats.

In 2023 alone, Egypt amassed USD 24.2 billion (EGP 747.8 billion) in remittances – with a strategy to increase that number by 10 percent annually until 2030.

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