It's no secret that FEPS has always greatly contributed in different fields, on top of them is the continuous support to policymakers and sustainable development partners. Therefore, in an attempt to achieve the vision of community development, this year's annual faculty conference of was held under the title "The New Egyptian State and Sustainable Development: Opportunities and Challenges". Headed by Prof. Mahmoud Al-Saeed, the conference took at the Intercontinental Citystars Hotel in Nasr City during the period June 27 to June 29. The conference was launched under the auspices of the faculty's development partners, which are the National Bank of Egypt, the National Bank of Kuwait, the Economic Governance Project of the USAID and UNICEF.

The conference was opened by the President of Cairo University, Prof. Muhammad Othman Al-Khosht, as it was held under his auspices, and coordinated by Prof. Dr. Mamdouh Ismail - Vice Dean for Community Service and Environmental Development Affairs. The scientific committee of the conference included esteemed professors from different fields, who were: Prof. Hanan Muhammad Ali, Prof. Najwa Sammak, Prof.Dr. Sami Al-Sayed, Prof. Abdel Nasser Saad, Prof. Shadia Fathy, Prof. Muhammad Darwish, Prof. Kamal Sami, Prof. Ahmed Youssef, Prof. Amal Suleiman, Prof. Dr. Mayada Aref, in addition to the Secretary of the Conference, Prof. Dr. Muhammad Al-Arabi, Prof. Mahmoud Al-Saeed and Prof. Mamdouh Ismail.

Adding up, a conference with such a vital scientific value was definitely honoured with the presence of the most important public figures and distinguished professors, such as Prof. Dr. Hala Helmy Al-Saeed - Minister of Planning and Economic Development, and Ms. Leslie Reid - Director of the USAID Mission, who both participated in the opening session. A number of ministers, presidents and deputies also attended and participated in the conference's sessions, including Mr. Muhammad Abu Al-Ainin, the deputy of the House of Representatives, Mr. Dr. Ashraf Sobhi - Minister of Youth and Sports, Prof. Dr. Yasmine Fouad - Minister of Environment, Mr. Ahmed Al-Maslamani - former advisor to the President of the Republic, Ambassador/ Mohamed Al-Orabi, former Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Ayman Mokhtar - Governor of Dakahlia, Dr. Yasser Sherif - Environmental Affairs Expert and Managing Director of Environics, Prof. Amira Tawadros - Director of the Demographic Center in Cairo, Dr. Salwa Tabbala - Economic Governance Officer at the US Agency for International Development and Prof. Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin - United Nations Special Envoy for the 2030 Finance Agenda and Climate Pioneer for the Egyptian Presidency.

The conference's first day included 3 sessions and the first-round table. Under the title "Institutional reform and investment in people as pillars of the new state", the first session, chaired by Prof. Khaled Zakaria Amin - Professor at the Faculty of Economics and Political Sciences and Head of the Centre for Macroeconomic Policies at the Institute of National Planning - focused on building the new Egyptian state, and that's through papers research presented by Prof. Esraa Adel Al-Husseini and Prof. Asmaa Ezzat and Aqab. Prof. Jannat Al Samalouti - Emeritus Professor of Economics at the Faculty of Economics and Political Sciences - and Prof. Dr. Adela Ragab - Director of the Center for Economic and Financial Research and Studies- discussed and commented upon the presented papers. On another level, the second session discussed the structural transformation of the Egyptian economy and its future with the speakers Prof. Omnia Helmy and Prof. Mona Al-Jarf, and with the commentary of Prof. Heba Nassar - Emeritus Professor of Economics at the Faculty of Economics and Political Sciences - and Prof. Dr. Najwa Sammak - Professor of Economics, and Vice Dean of the Faculty of Economics for Graduate Studies and Research - all under the supervision of the Committee Chair Prof. Dr. Samiha Fawzy - Emeritus Professor at the Faculty of Economics and Political Science, and the former Minister of Trade and Industry. As for the third session, it focused on the role of youth in the new Egyptian state, headed by Prof. Dr. / Ali El-Din Hilal - full-time professor of political sciences, and former Minister of Youth. Mr. Ahmed Al-Maslamani's commented and discussed the research of both Dr. Sahar Masoud and Dr. Asma Mustafa, the session's speakers. Finally, the first day ended with a round table on youth governance and empowerment, with the participation of Mr. Dr. Ashraf Sobhi, Prof. Muhammad Abu Al-Ainin, Prof. Mahmoud Al-Saeed, Dr. Omar Abdullah - Vice President of the Economic Governance Project - and Prof. Wiam Al-Leithi - Youth and Youth Program Officer at UNICEF.

The second day was opened with its first session under the chairmanship of Prof. Dr. Ahmed Youssef - Emeritus Professor of Political Sciences and former Director of the Institute of Arab Research and Studies - revolving around the analysis of Egyptian national security and foreign policy, with commentary from Ambassador Mohamed Al-Orabi and Prof. Dr. Shadia Fathi - Head of the Department of Political Science. That session included Prof. Dr. Engy Mahdi, Dr. Dalia Rushdy, Dr. Khaled Muhammad Ali and Dr. Narmin Tawfiq as speakers. Moving on, presented by Dr. Ayman Elbagoury, Dr. Esraa Sami, Dr. Maryam Waheed and Mr. Hossam Al-Abbasi, Local Governance and the New State was the topic for the second session; it was carried out through an analysis of the administrative challenges for the development of the management of new cities, women's representation in Egyptian local councils and the educational empowerment of Egyptian university students. This session was chaired by Prof. Dr. Saleh Al-Sheikh - Head of the Central Agency for Organization and Administration - and Dr. Ayman Mukhtar commented on it. As for the round table for the second day, it was under the title "The Global Economic Crisis and Its Effects on the Egyptian State", in which: Prof. Dr. Mahmoud Al-Saeed, Prof. Gouda Abdel-Khalek, Emeritus Professor of Economics, and former Minister of Social Solidarity, Prof. Dr. Fakhri El-Feki - Head of the Planning and Budget Committee in the House of Representatives, Prof. Hussain Abdel Aziz - Emeritus Professor in the Statistics Department at the College, and Mr. Hani Tawfiq - Former President of the Egyptian and Arab Associations for Direct Investment- all participated in discussing its topic.

The third and last day of the conference started with a session on institutional development and digital transformation in the new state under the chairmanship of Prof. Dr. Muhammad Darwish - Head of the Department of Public Administration at FEPS. That session included the speakers, Prof. Khaled Barakat, Prof. Mohamed Elaraby and Dr. Iman Al-Jazzar, and received commentaries from Prof. Dr. Amira Tawadros and Dr. Salwa Tabbala. As for the second session, which was chaired by Prof. Alia Al-Mahdi - Emeritus Professor of Economics and former Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Political Sciences - it focused on the role of conscious citizenship in sustainable development through previous research papers by speakers Prof. Dr. Ahmed Abdel Hafez and Prof. Dr. Amal Hassan. Both Prof. Sami Al-Sayed - Head of the Department of Economics and Prof. Amani Masoud - Professor of Political Sciences - Cairo University- provided commentary for that session. Finally, the last round table of the conference discussed one of the most pressing issues, namely climate change and sustainable development, with the participation of Prof. Mahmoud Al-Saeed, Prof. Dr. Yasmine Fouad, Prof. Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin and Dr. Yasser Sharif.

This year's conference witnessed 10 sessions and round tables, each of which exhibited vital problems and issued recommendations that can be implemented. All the attendees, including students, professors and public figures, praised the resounding success of the conference. Once again, the faculty was able to organize a great conference to the fullest, and as always, it took over the throne of distinction.