Planning Ministry holds a consultation session with UN representatives on Egypt's 3rd VNR

Dr. Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, held recently a consultation session with representatives of the United Nations agencies in Egypt, international donors, and non-governmental organizations in Egypt.


The session tackled Egypt’s readiness to prepare the 3rd Voluntary National Review Report (VNR), to be launched during the work of the high-level political forum for sustainable development 2021 next July.


Dr. Ahmed Kamali, Deputy Minister of Planning, and Dr. Mona Essam, Head of the Ministry's Sustainable Development Unit, participated in the meeting, in the presence of Mrs. Elena Banova, United Nations Resident Coordinator in Egypt.


Dr. Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, explained that the meeting is one of a series of different meetings for public consultations launched by the Ministry of Planning in preparation for the preparation of the 3rd Voluntary National Review Report, which is to be presented at the high-level political forum for sustainable development in July 2021.


El-Said pointed out that the series of meetings that took place included holding a session of consultations with representatives of civil society and another with representatives of the private sector, stressing the strong enthusiasm for sharing this experience with all development partners to issue the third voluntary report.

El-Said pointed out that the participation of the relevant stakeholders and development partners contributes to the acceleration of the implementation of the national and international agenda, as well as its contribution to strengthening the partnership and achieving integration between all parties to achieve a wider range of participation and participation for all relevant stakeholders.




El-Said stressed that the participatory approach is essential to confirm that the 3rd Voluntary National Review Report will provide a clear picture of what the state has achieved and highlight the participation of relevant stakeholders to achieve the goals of sustainable development, as well as the achievement of the national agenda, following up that the voluntary national report is not a government report but a national report.



El-Said pointed out the cooperation between all development partners and the Egyptian government in accelerating the achievement of sustainable development goals in Egypt by providing means of implementation, including technical support, technology transfer, capacity-building programs, institutional development, and financing.



El-Said also indicated that the Egyptian state is keen to participate and interact with various international efforts to achieve sustainable development, whether at the national, regional, or international level, as well as the Egyptian government's keenness to exchange experiences and expertise, which is one of the main objectives of this voluntary national report.

El-Said pointed out that Egypt had previously submitted two voluntary reports, one in 2016 directly after the 2030 Agenda was released and the other in 2018 at the high-level political forum in New York, explaining that the second report reviewed the achievements of the Egyptian state in several sectors, including health, clean water, renewable energy, and sustainable cities.


Dr. Hala El-Said explained that the voluntary report in its third edition will build on those previous efforts, especially what was reviewed by the second version in terms of showing progress in implementing the sustainable development goals and the impact of policies and strategies developed at the national level, as well as the reflection of global, regional and national developments.


These efforts include a policy enabling environment within a governmental framework, launching sustainable development goals and sector strategies, the principle of "leaving no one behind", such as focusing on social protection programs such as the Takaful and Dignity Initiative and the Decent Housing Initiative, in addition to following up and evaluating mechanisms such as the integrated planning and follow-up system of the Ministry of Planning on the investment plan as well as the Sustainable Development Goals Monitor.El-Said pointed to the inclusion of the report as a result of the economic reform program that was implemented, as well as the structural reform program that is currently being worked on, and local policies and national initiatives that are being worked on, such as the presidential initiative for health, the initiative of a decent life and infrastructure projects.


 El-Said pointed to the launch of a “Decent Life” initiative to raise the standard of living of citizens in 4,500 villages, as well as initiatives to rehabilitate and develop informal areas, in addition to initiatives to enhance financial inclusion. El-Said also referred to the challenges that the report will refer to, including climate change, water scarcity, and an increase in population.



Dr. Hala El-Said emphasized that the 3rd Voluntary National Review Report aims to shed light on the progress made in facing the challenges identified in the 2018 voluntary national report, in addition to identifying new challenges, policies, and tools needed to confront them.


El-Said added that the next report aims to deliver several messages that include Egypt's endeavor to present an objective view of the current situation of the sustainable development goals and focus on Egypt's commitment to achieving the principle of "leaving no one behind", as is evident through the “Decent Life” Initiative, and the strengthening of reliance on evidence-based policies.


 The report also focuses on Egypt's adoption of policies based on three main pillars of protection, mitigation, and resilience, as part of the recovery phase from the repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic.

El-Said pointed out that the Egyptian government adopts a multi-dimensional approach to assess the progress that includes the integrated financing framework to accelerate the implementation of Egypt’s Vision 2030 while ensuring a smooth transition to a more sustainable society and economy.

El-Said asserted Egypt’s intention to invest in key sectors that include the sustainable development goals accelerators.



 This is through finding innovative financing means and diversifying sources of financing for development plans and programs while strengthening partnership mechanisms with the private sector, civil society, and development partners to strengthen the financing for development as the basis of the structural reform program.

El-Said pointed to the citizen-oriented approach, explaining that the basic maps reflect progress in all sustainable development goals on the citizen's life, pointing to the issuance of a citizen plan that describes all government investment projects in each governorate to achieve transparency for the citizen in each governorate.


Regarding the approach of the entire community, El-Said pointed to the participation of all concerned institutions through the National Committee to follow up the achievement of the goals of sustainable development headed by the Prime Minister to ensure that all government agencies are aware of the integrated efforts.

El-Said stressed the need for this session to support an institutional framework that organizes the dialogue between the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development and all development partners to achieve the goals of sustainable development.

El-Said concluded by explaining that the Voluntary National Report is one component that enables cooperation in working to achieve more, pointing to the aspiration to conduct this dialogue frequently to raise various issues and many challenges to achieve sustainable development.

For his part, Dr. Ahmed Kamali stressed the importance of public consultations in the process of preparing the national voluntary report, explaining the importance of including challenges in the national voluntary report, which coincided with the repercussions of the Coronavirus.

Kamali explained that the structure prepared for the voluntary report was presented to the Technical Secretariat of the Supreme National Committee for the Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, noting that the committee includes many government officials from various ministries and institutions, and the membership of representatives of civil society and the private sector.

Kamali added that the results of the discussions, consultative sessions, and suggestions are included in the national voluntary report as a reflection of the participation.

Kamali pointed to Egypt's success in the side events that it held in 2018 and 2019 during the activities of the high-level political forum of the United Nations, in cooperation with many countries and institutions, adding that there are many ideas about this year's side events, stressing the keenness to share these ideas with the international community, and share our strengths.


Kamali stressed that African issues were taken into consideration, explaining that they represent a very important principle and will be the cornerstone of the voluntary national report.

Dr. Mona Essam, Head of the Sustainable Development Unit, indicated that the opening session in the structure of the voluntary report reflects Egypt's commitment and ambition for the coming period, explaining that the focus will be on the environmental dimension within the updates of the 2030 Agenda.
An overview of the capacity of the Egyptian economy and the results of the economic reform program will also be presented, which reflected positively in the economy's resistance to the repercussions of the Covid 19 virus.