Planning Ministry discusses updates of Egypt’s 3rd VNR with private sector

The Ministry of Planning and Economic Development held a meeting headed by Dr. Ahmed Kamali, Deputy Minister, with representatives of many private sector institutions to discuss the preparation of the third voluntary national report for Egypt 2021 within the framework of Egypt's participation in the high-level political forum for sustainable development at the United Nations for this year.



During the meeting, Kamali referred to the National Committee for Follow-up of the Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, which is chaired by the Prime Minister.



In the aforementioned committee, the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development plays the role of its rapporteur and includes in its membership 17 ministries and government agencies, it also heads the committee’s technical secretariat.



Kamali pointed out that the Ministry is keen to communicate with stakeholders and development partners, whether by inviting them to attend the meetings of the Technical Secretariat of the National Committee, or by direct contact with them to inform us of their most prominent contributions to achieving the sustainable development goals.


Kamali stressed the importance of including the challenges facing the Egyptian state during the past two years since the last report submitted by Egypt in 2018 in the third edition of the voluntary national report, including the global crisis of the Coronavirus, and the measures taken by the state to confront that challenge and its implications for achieving goals sustainable development.



Kamali emphasized that the Egyptian government was quick to respond to the effects of the crisis, in addition to the impact of economic reform policies on mitigating the severity of facing the negative repercussions of the Corona epidemic.



Kamali explained that a set of side events will be presented on the sidelines of the high-level political forum next July, including financing for development, green financing for recovery from the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic, and the localization of sustainable development goals.


The Deputy Minister of Planning highlighted the importance of the role of the private sector in achieving sustainable development, pointing out that the role of the private sector has grown in assisting the neediest groups in Egypt through social responsibility programs.



Concerning the contributions expected from the private sector in preparing the voluntary national report, Kamali explained that it is to highlight the best practices and initiatives undertaken by private sector institutions in implementing the sustainable development goals in Egypt, in addition to providing available data to be used in assessing the situation.



Moreover, these contributions included inviting interested partners to participate in the presentation of the third voluntary national report for Egypt at the HLPF high-level political forum in July 2021, in addition to participating in the upcoming side events.

For her part, Dr. Mona Essam, Head of the Sustainable Development Unit, reviewed the lessons learned from the previous voluntary national reporting process for Egypt.


Mona explained that the goal of submitting the third voluntary national report to Egypt is to clearly define national priorities, in addition to providing a realistic overview of the progress made in achieving sustainable development.



She also identified the gaps and the support required to fill them, in addition to integrating the sustainable development goals into the general budget process to allocate resources more effectively to ensure that no one is left behind.



Mona referred to the most important new elements included in the third voluntary national report for Egypt, as the report will include developments at the national, regional, and international levels and ensure a focus on the supportive policy environment represented in updating "Egypt’s Vision 2030".