Minister of Planning Engages in UN Partnership Committee Meeting for 2023-2027

The esteemed gathering today witnessed the active participation of H.E. Dr. Hala El Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, in the inaugural meeting of the Joint Steering Committee for the Strategic Partnership Framework with the United Nations for the period spanning from 2023 to 2027. The session, convened in Cairo, convened an illustrious assembly including Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of International Cooperation, Elena Panova, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Egypt, alongside representatives from pertinent Egyptian authorities and United Nations agencies, marking a pivotal moment in the collaborative journey towards sustainable development.

In her address, Dr. Hala El Said lauded the concerted efforts undertaken in formulating the strategic partnership framework between the Arab Republic of Egypt and the United Nations, emphasizing its pivotal role in advancing sustainable development goals over the ensuing years. This framework, she noted, builds upon the foundational efforts of the preceding period (2018-2022), seamlessly integrating with the National Agenda for Sustainable Development: Egypt Vision 2030, and the UN Agenda 2030. El Said underscored the imperative of forging synergistic partnerships amidst multifaceted challenges at national, regional, and global levels.

Expounding upon Egypt's ethos of inclusive development, El Said elaborated on the harmonized engagement of governmental entities, the private sector, and civil society, echoing the UN's seventeenth Sustainable Development Goal which underscores the paramount importance of partnerships for sustainable development.

The Minister further elucidated the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development's indispensable role in shaping both the antecedent and ongoing partnership frameworks, highlighting its instrumental involvement in delineating and crystallizing key objectives. Notable among these was the ministry's stewardship of the special working group on "Comprehensive Economic Development" during the antecedent period, which yielded commendable progress across diverse spheres including entrepreneurship, employment generation, and resilience-building amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

El Said elaborated on the ministry's collaborative endeavors with relevant stakeholders to ensure the seamless alignment of the strategic framework with the objectives enshrined within Egypt Vision 2030. She underscored the ministry's enduring role as the permanent co-chair of the second output working group, tasked with spearheading initiatives aimed at fostering environmentally sustainable economic development.

Moreover, El Said delineated Egypt's steadfast commitments to the Sustainable Development Goals, spotlighting the nation's active participation in the 2023 "Sustainable Development Goals Summit," where Egypt showcased its unwavering dedication to fostering human development, advancing gender parity, and alleviating poverty through a multifaceted approach grounded in national plans, strategic analyses, and international insights.

Turning to institutional imperatives, El Said underscored the paramountcy of evidence-informed policy formulation, robust financing mechanisms, legislative fortification, and capacity-building initiatives requisite for realizing the UN's overarching objectives. She spotlighted the Integrated National Financing Framework (INFF) and the ongoing initiative, "Sustainable Development Goals Financing Strategy in Egypt," as exemplars of Egypt's proactive strides in this domain.

Concluding her address, El Said elucidated collaborative ventures such as the Egypt Development Portal (EDP) and the localization drive for sustainable development goals, encompassing the dissemination of voluntary local reviews across various governorates and the impending inauguration of the Cairo Center for Localizing Sustainable Development Goals.