Egyptian president says to move gov’t headquarters to new capital in 2020

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi said the government headquarters would be relocated to the New Administrative Capital in 2020 and that it would use modern systems to reduce human error.

“We made sure that all the relevant AI technologies and applications are incorporated in the process of digitising all the Egyptian government’s services,” al-Sisi said during a discussion titled “Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Humans: Who is in control?”.

The discussion was part of the 3rd edition of the World Youth Forum which opened on Saturday in Egypt’s Red Sea resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh.

Egypt is currently building a new administrative capital city covering an area of 714 square km, some 45 km east of the capital Cairo.

The city will be a new home to most government buildings including 29 ministries, the cabinet and the parliament, as well as 20 residential neighbourhoods that can accommodate 6.5 million people, luxurious hotels, malls, parks and many other venues.

“The use of AI provides a great opportunity to overcome human error and saves time,” al-Sisi said.

He added that it represents a great opportunity to reduce corruption as well.

“I promise Egyptians, African countries, and the countries that want to join us, that we will open a new generation of universities during the next school year with all the sciences you are talking about today,” he noted.