President Abdel Fattah El Sisi on Saturday discussed with Prime Minister Sherif Ismail efforts exerted by the government to advance the country's economy and develop new ways to finance several major development projects.

Sisi was chairing a meeting with Ismail, the governor of the Central Bank of Egypt and the ministers of planning, supply, irrigation, investment, tourism, agriculture, international cooperation, petroleum and trade.

Presidential spokesman said that the meeting reviewed the current financial policies aimed at achieving economic and social goals in a way that does not harm the low-income brackets.

Sisi ordered to rationalize the imports in order not to exercise pressure on the state's resources of the foreign currency, the spokesman added.

He also directed to pay more attention to the small- and medium-sized enterprises, develop the industrial sector and increase exports through improving the quality of the Egyptian products.

The president also stressed the importance of promoting the Egyptian tourism sector and restoring the tourist flow and directing the Supreme Council of Tourism to hold a meeting in this regard.

The meeting also tackled the agriculture sector. He issued his directives to expand cultivated lands.

The meeting also followed up the implementation of the memorandums of understanding signed during the Egypt Economic Development Conference (EEDC) in Sharm el Sheikh.