Deputy Minister of Planning and Economic Development opens a workshop on integrated financing frameworks in Egypt in cooperation with ESCWA

Deputy Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Dr. Ahmed Kamali inaugurated recently the workshop held by the ministry in cooperation with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western (ESCWA) Asia on integrated financing frameworks in Egypt and financing sustainable development goals.

 

During his speech, Dr. Ahmed Kamali discussed the importance of financing for sustainable development.

 

Kamali explained that Egypt is one of the countries that, from the outset, identified the challenges that impede reaching the UN goals.

 

Kamali pointed out that the voluntary report submitted by Egypt in 2018 included four main challenges that impede access to the UN agenda. The most pressing issue is the financing issue. Therefore, the 2021 report refers to the efforts made to overcome this challenge.

 

Kamali indicated that Egypt was a world leader in issuing the first report on financing for development at the national level, pointing to the “Egypt’s Financing the Sustainable Development Goals Report,” which was issued last year.

 

Regarding evidence-based policies, Kamali explained that the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development always seeks to formulate impact-based policies.

 

Kamali added that when following and drawing up policies, they follow scientific principles based on quantitative models and applications based on data and statistics.

 

Kamali affirmed his belief in the employees of the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development and their capabilities. He explained that the workshop aimed to build their technical capabilities in the field of development financing using artificial intelligence tools.

 

Kamali stressed the importance of achieving internal cooperation in all government institutions at the level of sectors and departments to meet the goals of sustainable development. He explained that these goals cannot be effectively achieved without cooperation.

 

On her part, Dr. Mona Essam, Assistant Minister for Sustainable Development Affairs, said that financing sustainable development represents one of the possibilities for achieving the goals of sustainable development. This is stated in the updated version of Egypt's Vision 2030. According to her, it is not an end in itself, but rather a technique for achieving the goals that she outlined.

 

Essam also stressed the need for cooperation between all sectors to reach tangible results in directing financial sources in the best way to achieve the goals of Egypt's Vision 2030 and the international goals, which is evident through the interdependence of the efforts made within the ministry to link the international goals with financial flows.

 

Essam praised the joint efforts made between the Ministry and ESCWA to reach tools that take into account the Egyptian context, and that can be used in developing evidence-based policies.