Faculty of Business held the second annual scientific forum of Economics and Public Finance Department under the title "Unconventional Means of Financing Development" at 11:00 A.M. in the conference room. The forum was held under auspices of Prof. Mohamed Hussein, Acting Tanta University President, and Prof. Hatem Amin, Vice President for Postgraduate Studies and Scientific Research. It was attended by Prof. Yasser Al-Garf, Faculty Dean, Prof. Dina Abdel Hady, Vice Dean for Postgraduate Studies and Scientific Research, and Prof. Hani Mahariq, Vice Dean for Community Service and Environmental Development. The forum was chaired by Prof. Osama Badr, Head of Economics and Public Finance Department. It was organized by Prof. Hani Al-Demerdash and Prof. Khalid Ibrahim, Rapporteurs of the Forum.
   The forum witnessed the active participation of Dr. Abdel Hadi Al-Qassaby, Majority Leader at the Parliament, along with esteemed economists such as Prof. Adel Al-Mahdy, Prof. Omar Salman from Helwan University; Prof. Hosni Mehran, Prof. Mohamed El-Garawany from Benha University; Prof. Ahmed Ezzat, Dean of the Arab Academy for Maritime Transport; Prof. Wael Mustafa from Pharos University, Dr. Mohamed Al-Beltagy, President of the Egyptian Society for Islamic Finance; and intellectual Dr. Bassem Adel. Other distinguished participants included Prof. Manal Affan, Prof. Ramadan Ma’en, Professors of Economics at the Faculty, Dr. Marwa Emad, Director of Economic Affairs at the Cabinet Information and Decision Support Center, and Dr. Mahmoud Khalifa, Executive Director of External Monitoring at the same center. The forum also gathered a distinguished group of economists from the faculty and other Egyptian universities, in addition to academic staff, assistant staff, and researchers.
   For his part, Prof. Yasser El-Garf expressed his happiness to attend the second forum of Economics and Public Finance Department, which brought together political and academic elites as well as experts from the practical field. He praised the conference themes and the strength of the participating papers, highlighting that the agenda of the forum included an opening session followed by the first session, which explored unconventional methods for financing investments necessary for implementing the development plan. This covered both public projects executed by the state and private sector initiatives that support development efforts and align with Egypt’s Vision 2030. The session concluded with an extensive discussion on how to maximize the effectiveness of these financing methods in enhancing Egypt’s economic reality.
   In the second session, discussions focused on the potential implications of U.S. economic pressures on Egypt and strategies Egypt could adopt to mitigate and absorb the impact of such economic measures, should they occur. The session also assessed Egypt’s economic strengths and weaknesses, aiming to bolster resilience against external economic shocks. This session lasted for over two hours.
In addition, Prof. Osama Badr, Chairman of the Forum, outlined the key recommendations, which included:
•    Expanding the issuance of green sukuk (Islamic bonds).
•    Developing sustainable development sukuk.
•    Exploring AI sukuk.
•    Adopting innovative financial solutions.
•    Ensuring asset-backed sukuk issuance.

2/27/2025