Roadmap for promoting sustainable investments and business practices in Egypt

© ILO

Egypt (ILO news)- In a tripartite high level decision making event, ILO constituents representing governments, workers and employers organizations, reaffirmed their commitment towards the realization of the roadmap for the promotion of sustainable, responsible and inclusive investments and business practices for the realization of decent work in Egypt, guided by the ILO Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy (ILO MNE Declaration).

The process of developing and validating the roadmap started in October 2022, with a tripartite workshop held in Cairo, Egypt. The roadmap reflects national priorities, relevant principles derived from the ILO MNE Declaration and concrete activities in terms of awareness raising, policy coherence and dialogue amongst other for responsible and sustainable investments and business practices. 

This roadmap was validated through three consecutive consultation sessions, each dedicated for one of the constituents, to further review the roadmap and prioritize its objectives. This was followed by a tripartite decision-making session gathering the three constituents, validated the roadmap and discussed the way forward.

In particular, the adopted roadmap proposed amongst other:

• The appointment of a National Tripartite Steering Committee for the Promotion of the MNE Declaration and responsible business practices.
• A review of the existing legal framework to ensure policy coherence for RBC and entry-points for the promotion of responsible business practices;
• Engaging with incoming and existing investors on RBC and decent work;
• Review of trade and investment agreements and incorporation of RBC and the decent work agenda;
• Awareness-raising and training of different line ministries, employers, workers and enterprises.

In his concluding remarks at the first day of the workshop, Mr Eric Oechslin, Director of the ILO DWT for North Africa and ILO Cairo Country Office, has highlighted that, alongside the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct, the ILO MNE Declaration is a key reference instrument on responsible business conduct.

During this event, Josée Laporte, ILO Corporate Social Responsibility Specialist emphasized “We see more and more acknowledgements that businesses, through their operations, can help achieve the sustainable development goals”.

The Ministry of Labour highlighted its eagerness to ensure national compliance to international labour standards including the MNE declaration. The latter should play an important role to maximize the positive impact of multinational enterprises, which will contribute significantly to the promotion of investments, sustainable business practices, and enhance the competitiveness of Egyptian industries and exports.

From her side, Rasha Abdel Basset, Head of International Relations Department at the Ministry of Labour said “In light of the prominent role played by multinational enterprises in the process of social and economic globalization, it has become important to combine all national efforts- government, workers and business owners- to activate the MNE Declaration and its principles with the contribution of all the major actors, in a way that encourages direct investment in Egypt and helps in enhancing the positive effects of the presence of multinational enterprises.”

In addition to the Government, workers and employers’ representatives reconfirmed the relevance of the roadmap and underlined the importance of the MNE declaration while highlighting a particular interest in the following objectives:

• The employers underlined the importance of continuous engagement with companies in partnership with the ILO, trade unions and government on the issues of informality and skills development. They particularly raised the issues of Occupational Safety and Health (OSH), linking skills and vocational training to labour market needs, supporting the informal sector transition to formality, providing incentives for entrepreneurs to move to formalization and raising companies’ awareness on the MNE declaration.
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• As for the workers, they emphasized on the principles linked to OSH, non-discrimination, and collective bargaining. They also noted the importance of taking into consideration the just transition and digitalization objectives as a national priority. Additionally, they emphasized on ensuring access to social protection floors, and on the importance of the ratification of fundamental conventions that will support legislative reforms.