However, this growth will be unsustainable if it is at the expense of the disadvantaged and the environment. Consequently, the Mission will work to improve opportunities for the disadvantaged and continue to promote rational environmental management and programs to improve the quality of life for all Egyptians. The GOE continued to privatize state-owned enterprises, privatizing over 30 firms, and completed major macro policy reforms in 1999. As a result of the GOE's continued liberalization of agriculture, cotton exports exceeded 100 million kilograms. Progress on many other policy fronts remained slow but steady and the Mission expects this trend to continue.
Some services are already privatized, including cellular phones and internet service providers.
The challenge is to continue to encourage the trend towards privatization of infrastructure. There has been substantial progress in this sector though much remains to be done. Regional disparities between Upper and Lower Egypt, and rural and urban areas continue. Chronic malnutrition of children has not declined over the last decade. Girls' access to education remains an acute problem that warrants reform of the basic education system.