During HLPF 2023 activities in NY:The Minister of Planning and Economic Development meets with the Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA)

H.E. Dr. Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, met with Dr. Rola Dashti, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia – ESCWA.

The meeting took place on the sidelines of HLPF 2023 from 10 to 19 July 2023 in New York. It was under the theme ‘Accelerating the recovery from Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at all levels’.

 

During the meeting, Dr. Hala El-Said stressed that the issue of financing for development is still at the forefront of Egypt's national and international priorities and requires the cooperation of all stakeholders and the integration of various funding sources as well as the creation of innovative financing sources, expressing confidence in ESCWA's ability to help direct this process forward to reach a fruitful result worthy of our ambitions to ensure financing for the 2030 sustainable development plan, in line with “Egypt Vision 2030.”

 

She praised the role of ESCWA for its support in presenting the financing for development report, as it was part of a project aimed at studying the status of financing for development in the Arab countries, to create a sustainable mechanism for financing in the future, and Egypt was chosen as the first Arab country in this project that addresses the full scope of financing for development.

 

 

 

 

 

El-Said referred to the workshop held by the Ministry in cooperation with ESCWA on integrated financing frameworks in Egypt and financing the sustainable development goals last March, explaining that the development of the integrated national financing framework in Egypt can be supported through three successive interactive tools that have been developed.

 

Those goals are the SDG Costing Framework, SDG Financing Simulation, and SDG Improvement Toolkit. These goals are responding to Egypt's Vision 2030, the structural reforms program, and sectoral development plans.

 

El-Said explained that Egypt is one of the countries that identified from the beginning the challenges that hinder the achievement of the UN’s sustainable development goals, as the voluntary report submitted by Egypt in 2018 included four main challenges that hinder access to the United Nations agenda, and the most urgent issue is the funding issue. Therefore, a general report indicates 2021 efforts to overcome this challenge.

 

With regard to the regional workshops on the submission of voluntary national reports, Dr. Hala El-Said affirmed the Ministry of Planning's keenness to participate in the regional workshops organized by ESCWA for the preparation of voluntary national reports, to present Egypt's experience in producing the three voluntary reports, lessons learned and challenges.

 

During the meeting, ESCWA's support for the governorate competitiveness index was discussed. The Minister of Planning thanked the committee for its support in launching the competitiveness index.