Planning Minister launches a national consultation session on Egypt’s pledges toward achieving 2030 SDGs

H.E. Dr. Hala El-Said, Egypt’s Minister of Planning and Economic Development launched a national consultation session on the pledges of the Arab Republic of Egypt toward achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in preparation for participation in the United Nations Summit on Sustainable Development Goals (2023 SDG Summit) scheduled for on September 18 and 19, 2023 at the United Nations (UN) Headquarters in New York.

  The session witnessed the presence of Dr. Maya Morsi, President of the National Council for Women (NCW), Dr. Ahmed Kamali, Deputy Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Ms. Elena Panova, UN Resident Coordinator in Egypt, Eng. Khaled Mustafa, Permanent Undersecretary of the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, and Dr. Mona Essam, Assistant Minister of Planning and Economic Development for Sustainable Development Affairs.

The session also witnessed the presence of Dr. Jamil Helmy, Assistant Minister for Sustainable Development Plan Follow-up Affairs, Mr. Ashraf Negm, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Investment Bank, Ambassador Hisham Badr, National Coordinator of the National Initiative for Smart Green Projects, Dr. Hossam Badrawi, National Dialogue Advisor, Dr. Tarek. Qabil, former Minister of Trade and Industry.

"Egypt, through the Ministry of Planning and Economy, also wants to have a strong and effective participation in the summit, which will express its pioneering role at the international and regional level on sustainable issues," El-Said said.

  El-Said pointed out that the Ministry of Planning and Economy, through these negotiations at the national level, wants to follow the dialogue and the inclusive approach that the Ministry and the country follow in the process of development planning. 

 

  El-Said alluded to the challenges the world faces in achieving sustainable development. 

 "The world is going through unprecedented economic and geopolitical changes and challenges at a time when the global economy has not fully recovered from the consequences of COVID-19, The crisis in Russia and Ukraine led to inflation rising to a historic level," she explained. 

 

 All these changes and challenges overshadowed most of the global economic indicators and caused international institutions to withdraw from their optimistic vision of the global economic recovery and gradually reduce their previous estimates of these indicators -- especially the slowdown in global growth. 

 

 El-Said explained that these crises and challenges hurt the efforts of countries and governments to achieve the goals of sustainable development, especially the resulting deepening of the development finance deficit in developing countries and the urgent need to rearrange priorities in internal areas due to lack of global funding. 

 

 Regarding efforts to achieve sustainable development in Egypt in light of international, regional, and local challenges, El-Said noted that Egypt is not isolated from all these changes and suffers from regional and international challenges like other countries of the world.

El-Said emphasized that despite what the world is witnessing in this sensitive period, Egypt, through its sustainable development plan and strategic vision, has tried to overcome these obstacles and accelerate work in several economic and development sectors by initiating and continuing serious work to many comprehensive national development initiatives and strategic projects (especially the Haya Karima initiative). 

Egypt has also implemented the first phase of the National Economic and Social Reform Program since November 2016. The country will also continue these reforms by continuing to implement the National Restructuring Program launched in April 2021, according to El-Said

 

 El-Said pointed out that in October 2022, the state adopted a document on "state ownership policy", which explains to investors what is the role of the state as a regulator of market mechanisms in various economic sectors and how the state withdraws from its activities. 

El-Said said that the Egyptian state will continue to have a serious orientation towards the transition to a green economy and maintaining the sustainable use of natural resources, adding that while continuing the discussion on the green transition, the state, through the Ministry of Planning will continue to implement the second phase of the national initiative of smart green projects in the counties. 

El-Said concluded her speech by emphasizing the importance of uniting the efforts of all development partners at the local and international levels to accelerate achievement rates to achieve sustainable development goals, as today’s national consultation session represents an important occasion for dialogue, discussion, and exchange of ideas and visions between all concerned national parties, civil society, the private sector, and the academic community.