Egypt’s Ministry of Planning and Economic Development participates in 1st meeting of G20 Development Working Group

The Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, represented by Dr. Mona Essam, Assistant Minister for Sustainable Development Affairs, participated recently in the first meeting of the technical working group on development for the G20 countries held in Mumbai, India.


The aforementioned meeting came within the framework of the invitation extended to the Arab Republic of Egypt to participate as a guest in the G20 meetings held during the Indian presidency of the group from December 2022-November 2023.
During her participation in the session on "Accelerating Progress towards Achieving SDGs", Dr. Mona Essam said that the entire world is witnessing great challenges towards achieving the goals of sustainable development.


During her speech, Mona referred to a number of challenges that Egypt is dealing with in its path towards sustainable development, including financing, data, governance and increasing population growth.
Moreover, Mona highlighted a group of issues that have emerged during the past few years that require special attention, namely dealing with the digital divide, whether at the level of social or between different regions as well as increasing the participation of women in the labor force, which would greatly advance the economy.
Dr. Mona Essam also mentioned Egypt's Vision 2030, which was launched in 2016 by following a participatory approach, which represents the governing framework for the development process in Egypt, and its ongoing modernization to keep pace with internal and external changes.
Dr. Mona Essam emphasized Egypt's focus on localizing SDGs at the governorate level to ensure comprehensive and sustainable regional development and in implementation of the principle of leaving no one behind (Leave no one behind (LNOB) is the central, transformative promise of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development).


Dr.Mona referred to the presidential initiative "A Decent Life" that targets the poorest villages in Egypt.


Concluding her speech, Dr. Mona Essam explained that digital transformation and strengthening partnerships are among the most important accelerators of sustainable development, stressing that sustainable development is a shared responsibility that can only be achieved by concerted efforts at all levels.


It is noteworthy that the Arab Republic of Egypt had participated as a guest in the G20 meetings and summit twice, the first under the Chinese presidency in 2016, and the second under the Japanese presidency in 2019 in its capacity as chair of the African Union at the time.