On behalf of the Minister of Planning and Economic Development : Deputy Minister of Planning inaugurates the World Gender Summit 2022

On behalf of Dr. Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development who is also acting as Governor of Egypt at the Islamic Development Bank Group (IsDB), Dr. Ahmed Kamali, Deputy Minister, inaugurated today the opening session of the Global Gender Summit of the Multilateral Working Group of Development Banks on Gender Issues for the year 2022.
The summit will be held by the Bank in cooperation with the European Investment Bank, under the auspices of the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, the Ministry of International Cooperation, and the National Council for Women from 16 to 19 May in Cairo, in the presence of Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of International Cooperation, and Dr. Maya Morsi, Chairman of the Council National Women's Day, Dr. Mansour Mokhtar, Vice President of the Islamic Development Bank, Fayol Ambroise, Vice President of the European Investment Bank.

El-Said said in her speech delivered by Dr. Ahmed Kamali, Deputy Minister, said that the summit is witnessing high-level participation, as it is a development forum and a platform for dialogue and exchange of views and experiences between representatives of governments, the private sector, and civil society.El-Saidpointed to the rapid economic, social and environmental changes that the world is witnessing, which negatively affect the efforts made by countries to empower women economically.El-Said added that, therefore, the importance of intensifying attention to issues of women's empowerment in all fields comes within the framework of strengthening the pillars of achieving the "fifth goal" of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2030 related to achieving gender equality and empowering women.
El-Saidadded that reports indicate that women made up two-thirds of those who lost their jobs globally as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

El-Said said that the UN Women expected that the outbreak of the Corona pandemic would lead to the loss of 1.7 million jobs in the Arab region, including about 700,000 jobs held by women, or 41%.

El-Said confirmed that Egypt has taken a package of measures to support women since the beginning of the pandemic, explaining that Egypt is the first country in the world to issue a “policy paper on rapid response to the situation of women during the outbreak of Covid-19”, to follow up on the effects of the epidemic on women and girls and to develop a response mechanism that ensures the integration of Women in the areas of decision-making and decision-making during crisis management.El-Said added that work has also been done to develop the availability of microfinance for women, as microfinance jumped from 8.1 billion pounds in 2019 to 9 billion pounds in 2020, where women accounted for 62% of the total number of beneficiaries, with several 54,000.
In her speech delivered by Dr. Ahmed Kamali, El-Said indicated that all these efforts resulted in Egypt coming first in the report issued by the United Nations Women and the United Nations Development Program on the measures taken by countries around the world to support women during the Covid-19 pandemic.
El-Said also touched on the effects of climate change and its economic and social repercussions that prevent the people of developing countries from benefiting from development efforts, explaining that the danger of climate change is reflected at all levels, including major economic sectors such as agriculture, water resources, and energy.

El-Said pointed out that Egypt will host the summit of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (COP 27) for the year 2022 in November in Sharm El-Sheikh.
El-Said explained that Egypt aims with this step to achieve tangible progress in priority areas, such as climate financing, adaptation, and loss and damage.
 El-Saidstressed that funding represents the cornerstone of implementing national pledges to support the burdens incurred by the state's general budget to finance adaptation activities to climate changes, rather than directing them to development aspects.
In a speech delivered on her behalf by Dr. Ahmed Kamali, El-Said explained that the Egyptian state is working to create an environment that helps women exercise their rights guaranteed by the constitution.
El-Saidtouched on the projects and initiatives that the state is working on to support and empower women, which included the presidential initiative to develop the Egyptian countryside, "a decent life."
El-Said explained that the initiative contributes to improving the quality of life for about 34 million women due to the provision of good health services, decent housing, and job opportunities, in addition to the national project for the development of the Egyptian family.

El-Said added that the state's efforts and interest in women's issues did not stop there, but rather a package of programs and initiatives was implemented to work on building the capacities of Egyptian women and qualifying them for more active participation in development efforts and assuming leadership positions.
El-Said also confirmed that the state is working to intensify its efforts to implement training programs for women and girls in the fields of technology and digitization, including training about 2,000 women through the Heya for a Digital Future initiative, which aims to train 8,000 women by the end of 2022.
At the level of the Egypt Award for Government Excellence in its various categories, which is organized under the generous patronage of the President of the Republic, El-Said explained that the percentage of female winners of the award amounted to about 30% of the winners.

 El-Said pointed out that the "Government Excellence Award for Equal Opportunities and Empowerment of Women" was created as a special category of institutional excellence.
El-Saidpointed to the unprecedented historical levels that Egypt has achieved in the percentage of women's representation in the Egyptian parliament, making it the first in the Arab world and 16th globally, as the percentage of women's representation in the Egyptian parliament reached 28% and about 13.3% in the Senate.
 El-Said explained that all of this culminated in the directive of the President to seek the assistance of women in the Public Prosecution and the State Council, confirming the eligibility of women to hold various positions, noting the issuance of the historic decision “to start the work of the female component in the State Council and the Public Prosecution,” and the appointment of 98 new female judges in the State Council. In June 2021.


Dr. Hala El-Said added that the continuous efforts and plans resulted in the improvement of Egypt's position in the sub-index of political empowerment of women in the Gender Gap Index issued by the World Economic Forum in 2021 by 55 ranks, to come to 79th in 2021 compared to 134th in 2014.


The percentage of women with bank accounts increased to about 16 million women, with a growth rate of 163% between 2016 and 2021.