Sisi opens 8th edition of the National Youth Conference

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Saturday inaugurated the 8th edition of the National Youth Conference in Cairo on Saturday. High on the agenda are the two issues of terrorism and the impact of lies on the state.

The event was announced on Tuesday with some local media reports suggesting that holding the conference at this time had been impromptu.

The 6th and 7th editions of the Conference were held in late July 2018 and 2019 respectively.

The gathering features two sessions that will address local counterterrorism efforts and the impact of spreading lies on the state.

A third session will see El-Sisi answer questions submitted online by Egyptians in an attempt to “increase public awareness of Egyptians about what is happening in the country,” a conference statement had said earlier.

El-Sisi thanked those who sent their questions in a statement on his official Facebook page on Friday.

Some 1,600 participants — most of whom are young people, including university students, youths who worked on El-Sisi’s presidential campaign, engineers working on national projects and entrepreneurs — are  taking part in the one-day event, a conference statement said.

The National Youth Conference was launched in October 2016 in Cairo, with subsequent editions taking place in various governorates, including Aswan and South Sinai.