In celebration of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty: The Minister of Planning and Economic Development Participates in the Conference on “South-South Cooperation on Leveraging Knowledge and Good Practice Sharing for Poverty Eradication and Sustainable Development”.

Dr. Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, participated - via video conference - in a conference entitled "South-South Cooperation on Leveraging Knowledge and Good Practice Sharing for Poverty Eradication and Sustainable Development" organized by the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) and the Academy Chinese Social Sciences (CASS).In the context of the celebration of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, the conference was attended by Adel Abdellatif, Director, Ad Interim (a.i.) of the United Nations Office of South-South Cooperation.During her speech, Dr. Hala El-Said said that the conditions the world is witnessing as a result of the repercussions of the Corona pandemic and its wide health, economic and social effects have proven that cooperation between the countries of the South is of paramount importance. El-Said affirmed Egypt’s commitment to promoting and sharing its success stories in the Corona experience with the world, noting to participate in evaluating the progress made towards implementing the 2030 plan and accelerating its achievement, as Egypt was among the 10 countries in the world that submitted its third national voluntary report this year during the high-level political forum of the United Nations on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.The Minister of Planning and Economic Development referred to the modernization of Egypt's Vision 2030, intending to face some challenges such as population growth and water scarcity, in addition to absorbing the repercussions of the Corona pandemic and its impact on sustainable development goals. She emphasized that improving the quality of life of Egyptian citizens and their standard of living is the main goal in all national strategies and planning efforts.


Regarding the achievements made by Egypt in the first goal of the sustainable development goals, Dr. Hala El-Said pointed out that poverty rates decreased to 29.7% in 2019/2020, compared to 32.5% in 2017/2018, for the first time in nearly two decades. This is a result of increased public investment in human capital and the provision of basic services while strengthening the social protection system.Dr. Hala El-Said continued that Egypt has significantly expanded the scope of its social protection programs and safety nets, to achieve great coverage of the most vulnerable groups and prevent the neediest people from slipping into poverty, stressing the targeting of inclusive and sustainable growth to identify gaps to achieve sustainable development goals at the level local, by committing to leaving no one behind.El-Said referred to the launch of Egypt’s second phase of the “Decent Life” initiative in 2021 under the auspices of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to develop sustainable Egyptian rural communities and with the participation of multiple stakeholders, intending to reduce multidimensional poverty and unemployment rates to improve the quality of life in Egyptian rural communities.She emphasized that over three years, all rural communities will be covered through the "Decent Life" initiative, which targets 58% of Egypt's total population with a budget of more than $45 billion. She noted that given the size of the initiative and its impact on achieving the goals of Vision 2030; it has been added among the best practices and accelerators of the sustainable development goals on the United Nations platform.El-Said pointed out that Egypt is focusing heavily on settling the sustainable development goals at all levels, intending to build a more resilient economy and society after the Corona pandemic. El-Said pointed out that the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund, launched, for the first time in Egypt and the region, 27 reports to localize the sustainable development goals in each of the 27 Egyptian governorates. These reports document the progress and current status of implementing the sustainable development goals for each governorate by measuring and updating the values ​​of 32 indicators for 11 sustainable development goals based on the availability of data, adding that a funding formula has been developed for the governorates to ensure a fair and objective allocation of public investments among them, taking into account the different social and economic characteristics and conditions of each.During her speech, the Minister of Planning and Economic Development referred to the National Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development - the training arm of the ministry - (NIGSD) and the tasks it performs in terms of developing and enhancing human resources in the areas of good governance and sustainability.



In conclusion, Dr. Hala El-Said indicated Egypt's readiness to share its practices and build capacity in planning, monitoring, and evaluating sustainable development goals, stressing that the challenges posed by the epidemic can be overcome, through the country's commitment to cooperation and partnerships, which is the main incentive to support efforts to achieve development.