• Research
  • Emissary
  • About
  • Experts
Carnegie Global logoCarnegie lettermark logo
DemocracyIran
  • Donate
{
  "authors": [
    "Scott Williamson"
  ],
  "type": "other",
  "centerAffiliationAll": "dc",
  "centers": [
    "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace"
  ],
  "collections": [],
  "englishNewsletterAll": "menaTransitions",
  "nonEnglishNewsletterAll": "",
  "primaryCenter": "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace",
  "programAffiliation": "MEP",
  "programs": [
    "Middle East"
  ],
  "projects": [],
  "regions": [
    "North Africa",
    "Egypt"
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Political Reform"
  ]
}

Source: Getty

Other

Sisi's Vision for Egypt

A summary of Sisi’s economic and political plans for Egypt.

Link Copied
By Scott Williamson
Published on Jun 30, 2014
Program mobile hero image

Program

Middle East

The Middle East Program in Washington combines in-depth regional knowledge with incisive comparative analysis to provide deeply informed recommendations. With expertise in the Gulf, North Africa, Iran, and Israel/Palestine, we examine crosscutting themes of political, economic, and social change in both English and Arabic.

Learn More

In an online plan released shortly before his election to the Egyptian presidency in late May 2014, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi laid out his vision for Egypt’s future. That vision is framed around three primary goals: improving the quality of political, economic, and social life for all Egyptians; establishing a modern state for Egypt’s next generations; and returning Egypt to its lofty regional and international position. Though extensive, it lacks detailed proposals and will prove difficult for the new president to implement.

The plan includes a laundry list of ambitious proposals for the economy that are generally short on details and long on aspirations. Adjustments to taxes and subsidies, the establishment of new government institutions, and the building of roads, schools, and hospitals as well as other infrastructure projects are staples of the economic proposals. To fight unemployment, the plan suggests industry-specific goals such as modernizing irrigation systems across the country, reclaiming agricultural land for farmers, establishing new tourism centers, and implementing unprecedented urban development projects.

The tourism industry will be revamped to draw 30 million tourists per year. Education will be improved by modernizing and diversifying curricula and retraining teachers, among other ideas. Transportation problems will be solved by building new roads, repairing old roads, and enforcing traffic laws. Small and medium enterprises, which the plan acknowledges as important but often ignored, will be strengthened through a long list of proposals including new access to finances, incentivized cooperation with larger corporations, and technical support.

The portion of Sisi’s program that received the most emphasis during the campaign is a plan to redraw the map of Egypt to promote development, improve land usage, and attract investment to different areas of the country. A series of online maps shows how the new governorates will be developed. The proposal includes the construction of dozens of new cities, tourism centers, airports, and industrial areas. According to Reuters, the plan is in fact based on a proposal presented to former president Hosni Mubarak in 1985. That scheme was shelved and then rejected in 2005 by a ministerial committee due to its high cost of implementation. Sisi estimates that the cost of the current plan will be $140 billion.

Beyond the economy, Sisi’s vision also addresses a diverse array of topics such as the development of the police and security forces, the improvement of access to sporting facilities, the rehabilitation of street children, the development of religious discourse, and the strengthening of women’s rights.

On foreign policy, the plan speaks of Egypt reclaiming its regional role and cooperating with its African, Mediterranean, and Islamic partners. Strategic relations with the United States are described as not standing in the way of developing ties with other world powers (including Russia, China, and the European Union), though none of these relationships should be seen as an alternative to another. Egypt is also described as a country committed to its treaties and to a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

One month after his election, it is too early to tell how, or whether, Sisi has begun to act on his proposed vision for Egypt. On June 16, 2014, Sisi issued a decree establishing a Supreme Committee for Legislative Reform, which will begin to propose draft laws—possibly related to Sisi’s policies—for the president and future parliament to implement. Regardless of his ambitions, however, the political and economic constraints facing Sisi, including significant fiscal problems and a sprawling bureaucracy, suggest that Egypt’s new president will struggle to make his campaign’s vision a reality.

About the Author

Scott Williamson

Former Junior Fellow, Middle East Program

Scott Williamson
Former Junior Fellow, Middle East Program
Political ReformNorth AfricaEgypt

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

More Work from Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

  • Europe from Scratch: Visions for a New European Order
    Report
    Europe from Scratch: Visions for a New European Order

    As the EU confronts profound challenges, several leaders have called for fundamental reform to the union’s model—but only modest, superficial changes have resulted. What if Europe really could be reimagined from zero today: What should such a redesigned European order look like?

      Richard Youngs, ed.

  • Commentary
    Carnegie Politika
    Parliamentary Elections in Occupied Ukraine Risk Backfiring for the Kremlin

    Despite unhappiness on the ground, Moscow is determined to use both carrot and stick to ensure there is record support for United Russia in occupied Ukraine.

      Konstantin Skorkin

  • Paper
    Egypt’s Military Landlord Economy and its Limitations

    The armed forces champion a form of capitalism that is generating revenue, but its reliance on rent faces diminishing returns, leaving the country with massive sunk costs and deferred returns, deepening dependency on external borrowing.

      Yezid Sayigh

  • Commentary
    Carnegie Politika
    Moldova’s Ruling Party PAS Must Graduate From Crisis Management to State Governance

    Whether PAS can refocus on the unfinished business of state-building may ultimately prove more consequential for Moldova’s European future than the pace of its accession negotiations.

      Balázs Jarábik

  • Commentary
    Carnegie Politika
    Snubbed by United Russia as Elections Loom, Medvedev Looks Condemned to Eternal Obscurity

    Medvedev’s defeat in the battle for the position of speaker appears to signal that the long process of his marginalization in Russian politics has passed the point of no return.

      Andrey Pertsev

Get more news and analysis from
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Carnegie global logo, stacked
1779 Massachusetts Avenue NWWashington, DC, 20036-2103Phone: 202 483 7600
  • Research
  • Emissary
  • About
  • Experts
  • Donate
  • Programs
  • Events
  • Blogs
  • Podcasts
  • Contact
  • Annual Reports
  • Careers
  • Privacy
  • For Media
  • Government Resources
Get more news and analysis from
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
© 2026 Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. All rights reserved.