Egypt’s Minister of Planning and Economic Development meets the UNDP team

H.E. Dr. Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, met with the UNDP Egypt team, headed by Alessandro Fracassetti who is acting as Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The meeting aimed to support the partnership between the Egyptian government and UNDP, in the presence of Sylvain Merlin, Deputy Resident Representative, and Reham Youssef, Head of Policies and Partnerships.
 
At the beginning of the meeting, Dr. Hala El-Said stressed the importance that the Egyptian government attaches to its partnership with the United Nations Development Program.


El-Said noted the ministry's aspiration to work with Mr. Fracassetti and the entire UNDP team to support Egypt's core development priorities, including the realization of Vision 2030 and the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.
El-Said indicated that the Ministry is looking forward to receiving Dr. Khaleda Bouzar, Assistant Secretary-General and Director of the Regional Office of the United Nations Development Program for the Arab States during the coming days during her visit to Egypt.
Dr. Hala El-Said touched on aspects of cooperation between the ministry and the United Nations Development Program, explaining that the United Nations Development Program, as a key agency in the United Nations system, plays a key role in supporting Egypt in setting development priorities, as well as achieving a development impact on the ground.

El-Said talked about the road to COP 27, explaining that Egypt will host the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2022, on behalf of Africa in Sharm El-Sheikh, which will include offering innovative solutions that contribute to bridging gaps and addressing the challenges of the current decade.El-Said pointed to the supervision of the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development on the national initiative for smart green projects.El-Said explained that the initiative represents a sincere effort and reflects the joint work of the relevant ministries and all governorates to confront climate change in a comprehensive approach aimed at achieving all sustainable development goals.El-Said added that the initiative, as part of the National Climate Change Strategy 2050, is working on mapping smart green projects for each governorate, linking them to the funding agencies, and attracting the necessary investments.El-Said affirmed Egypt's endeavor to promote international climate action to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement during the country's presidency of the 27th Conference of Parties.El-Said added that climate change is still a top priority for Egypt, and it comes within the sustainable development strategy: Egypt's Vision 2030 Egypt, and one of its main priorities is to achieve the sustainable development goals.El-Said pointed to the participation of the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development in chairing the meeting of the joint steering committee between the Egyptian government and the United Nations for the first component of the Joint Fund for Sustainable Development Goals, "the Sustainable Development Goals Financing Strategy", which is funded by the United Nations Joint Fund for Sustainable Development Goals with the participation of five United Nations organizations.El-Said explained that Egypt is currently conducting a development finance assessment, which will lay the foundation for the development of the country's integrated national finance framework, ensuring that the cost of the sustainable development strategy and goals and an assessment of the current financial landscape and associated finance gaps.
El-Said touched on the Human Development Report in Egypt, looking forward to continued cooperation in preparing the next Human Development Report in Egypt in 2023.
She also addressed the discussion about Egypt's Vision 2030, stressing that achieving the vision requires overcoming several challenges, including population growth, water scarcity, addressing funding shortages, and unpredictability due to global geopolitical conflicts.

In the process of follow-up, evaluation, and voluntary local reviews, Dr. Hala El-Said affirmed Egypt's commitment to following up and evaluating the sustainable development goals, many of which can be localized through data collection at the regional level.


El-Said added that the Ministry of Planning aims to localize the sustainable development goals, by enhancing the participation of local and regional governments in the follow-up process.El-Said indicated the ministry's keenness to cooperate with the United Nations Development Program to measure progress towards achieving sustainable development goals.After the meeting, El-Said affirmed the aspiration to enhance cooperation with the United Nations Development Program in adapting to the new reality in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, and in achieving sustainable development goals and achieving the goals set in Egypt’s Vision 2030 and a decent life project.
For his part, Mr. Alessandro Fracassetti, Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Program in Egypt, said, "I was pleased to meet the Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Dr. Hala El-Said. We discussed our joint efforts to support the localization of the sustainable development goals and the development of Egypt's strategy to finance the sustainable development goals through integrated national financing frameworks."


The meeting was attended by Dr. Ahmed Kamali, Deputy Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Kamal Nasr, Assistant Minister for Technical Office Affairs, and Ambassador Hazem Khairat, Director of the International Cooperation Office at the Ministry.