Minister of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation Participates in G20 Development Ministers' Meeting on Social Protection and Illicit Financial Flows

Dr. Rania Al-Mashat: Stimulating multilateral cooperation and country ownership is essential to overcome debt challenges, the high cost of financing, and global economic instability.

 

Expanding social protection programs and coverage for the most vulnerable is now essential for achieving sustainable and inclusive growth, especially in developing countries.

 

We commend the G20’s efforts to develop actionable principles to enhance financial transparency and curb illicit financial flows.

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Minister Al-Mashat highlights Egypt’s national efforts to strengthen social protection through the “Decent Life” initiative, the “Takaful and Karama” program, and presidential initiatives.

Maximizing the benefits of international partnerships and domestic resources to expand social protection programs in Egypt.

 

H.E. Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation, participated in a ministerial session on social protection and illicit financial flows during the G20 Development Working Group Ministerial Meeting.

 

During the session, H.E. Dr. Al-Mashat highlighted the importance of bilateral and multilateral cooperation in advancing the Sustainable Development Agenda, with only five years remaining until 2030, through the most important international platforms, the G20, noting that the global slowdown in achieving the Sustainable Development Agenda, with progress at only 16.7%, due to the estimated financing gap between $2.5 and $4 trillion annually, which requires diversifying development financing sources and integrating public and private financial flows to achieve balance and sustainability.

 

H.E. emphasized that financing for development and investments in key sectors is the cornerstone of sustainable economic and social growth, which necessitates expanding the scope of application of integrated national frameworks for sustainability and financing to ensure effective governance, alignment with national priorities, and improved allocation of domestic resources to priority sectors. This comes in light of Egypt’s active participation in the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development in Seville, where Egypt joined other UN member states in calling for expanding institutional, technological, and human support for developing countries, including strengthening financial systems and mobilizing domestic resources.

 

H.E. highlighted Egypt’s pioneering role in implementing debt swap programs for sustainable development in cooperation with friendly countries such as Germany, Italy, and China, which supported the Egyptian government to convert portions of external debt into domestic investments in line with national priorities across multiple topics and sectors, including climate action, education, and social protection. This positioned Egypt at the forefront of countries applying innovative financing mechanisms for sustainable development, including blended finance, public-private partnerships, and investment guarantees.

 

 

With regard to social protection, the G20 Development Working Group committed to prioritizing social protection through a call to action, reaffirming its commitment to building inclusive and sustainable social protection systems, with particular focus on national social protection frontiers. Al-Mashat noted that according to the International Labour Organization (ILO), social protection programs cover more than half of the global population; however, around 3.8 billion people remain not fully covered, there are still significant disparities persist in social protection between countries, underscoring the urgent need to scale up sustainable investment in social protection, especially in low- and middle-income countries.

 

At the national level, the Minister of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation affirmed that Egypt has made significant progress in enhancing social protection through numerous transformative projects and initiatives that reflect national priorities under Egypt Vision 2030. Among these is the “Takaful and Karama” program, the most prominent social protection program in the MENA region, which now reaching over 4.67 million needy households (approximately 17 million individuals). In 2025, Egypt celebrated a decade since its launch, underscoring its long-term commitment to social justice and investment in human capital. Additionally, the flagship “Decent Life” rural development initiative aims to address multidimensional poverty and unemployment by improving the livelihoods of poor rural communities, which the first phase achieved an implementation rate of 85.5% by the end of 2024. Other programs, such as “Forsa” and “Mastoura,” aim to economically empower women and youth by providing training, employment opportunities, and interest-free microloans for small businesses, supporting their transition from cash assistance to sustainable livelihoods. Furthermore, Egypt has prioritized health equity through presidential initiatives such as “100 Million Healthy Lives” for early detection of Hepatitis C and non-communicable diseases and initiatives supporting women’s health.

 

H.E. also highlighted Egypt’s experience in social protection by focusing on international cooperation and the efficient allocation of domestic and development resources to scale up social protection programs, which is one of the most important pillars of comprehensive and sustainable economic development.

 

On Illicit Financial Flows, Al-Mashat commended the efforts under South Africa’s presidency to develop principles that will form a practical framework for countries to strengthen financial transparency, data integrity, fair taxation, and enforcement mechanisms. The Seville Commitment, adopted at the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development, includes a set of specific commitments to enhance international cooperation, encourage the exchange of best practices and technologies, and expand technical assistance to prevent corruption and support developing countries in identifying money laundering risks and taking necessary actions.

 

Moreover, Al-Mashat affirmed that Egypt has prioritized addressing illicit financial flows as a part of its integrated national financing strategy as a key pathway to boost domestic private finance to achieve the SDGs, through three reform areas: institutions, policies, and capacity-building. Key measures include strengthening national statistical capacities to measure illicit financial flows, investing in automated tools to measure trade asymmetries, and supporting a specialized unit within the Egyptian Customs Authority to tackle smuggling, money laundering, and risk management. Egypt has also collaborated with the United Nations to enhance its ability to measure illicit financial flows, focusing on tax, trade, and crime activities.

 

It is worth noting that the G20 is the prominent forum for international economic cooperation, and plays a critical role in shaping and strengthening global governance in all major international economic issues. It includes 19 countries in addition to the European Union and the African Union. Given Egypt’s pioneering experience as a middle-income country that successfully balanced its national priorities with leveraging financial tools available at international financial institutions, Egypt has been invited as a guest country to the G20 since 2016 under various presidencies (China, Japan, India, Brazil, and South Africa). In 2024, under Brazil’s presidency, Egypt attended all G20 meetings throughout the year, marking its second consecutive year of participation as a guest country. As of 2025, South Africa extended an invitation to Egypt to participate in working group and ministerial meetings, with the invitation lasting until the end of South Africa’s presidency in November 2025.