Egypt’s planning ministry has signed two cooperation protocols with UK-based King’s College London and Washington-based American University on raising the efficiency of employees of the state’s administrative apparatus in preparation for the transition to the New Administrative Capital (NAC), Invest-Gate reports.

The move comes within the Egyptian state’s keenness in investing in the human element as well as developing the state’s administrative apparatus, in line with Egypt’s Sustainable Development Strategy – or Egypt Vision 2030 – which is one of the main pillars of the ministry’s work plans, Minister of Planning Hala El-Saeed said in a ministerial statement on February 2.

Under the tripartite protocol, the planning ministry, the American University in Cairo (AUC), along with King’s College, will provide scholarships and specialized training courses addressed to the administrative system’s personnel, whereby master’s programs in public policy, leadership, and governance will be made available, attempting to promote the young competencies existing among staff members and boost their efficiency to meet the NAC’s criteria, El-Saeed elaborated.

El-Saeed added that this experiment will soon be circulated to include a number of prestigious Egyptian universities.

The agreements were signed by El-Saeed, Deputy Minister of Planning Ghada Labib, President of AUC Francis Ricciardone, and Tayeb Shah, vice president of King’s College.

On his part, Ricciardone revealed that the deal comes to stand hand-in-hand with the Egyptian government for the rehabilitation and training of the next generation of state leaders and public service employees.