During the activities of the second day of the Arab Sustainable Development Week (ASD): Egypt’s Minister of Planning and Economic Development participates in the session "Inspiring Arab Youth Experiences in the Field of Sustainable Development"

H.E. Dr. Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, met with a group of Arab youth, during the "Inspirational Arab Youth Experiences in the Field of Sustainable Development" session, held as part of the activities of the second day of the Arab Sustainable Development Week in its fourth edition.The Arab Week for Sustainable Development (ASD), in its fourth edition, is organized by the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, in cooperation with the League of Arab States, under the auspices of H.E. President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.During the session, El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development stressed that ASD is an important platform for exchange and dialogue to share success stories and challenges. El-Said indicated the keenness of the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, in cooperation with the Arab League, to hold such an event every year, in the belief that Arab youth are the future of the nation.El-Said praised the agenda of the ASD for the current year, as it pays main attention to three basic issues of concern to young people, especially after the exceptional challenge faced by the whole world, which is the Covid-19 pandemic.El-Said pointed out that these issues included the issue of financing for development, climate change, technology, and their future impacts, especially their impact on future jobs, which will be directly reflected on the youth and their future role.
 El-Said added that the projects of youth models that were presented are a reflection of the importance of these topics.El-Said pointed out that Egypt launched the "Sustainable Development Financing Report in Egypt", which is the first report of its kind globally, making Egypt the first country to prepare this report because of its leadership and developmental weight in the Arab region. El-Said added that the discussion is currently about a future map for the issue of financing for development, as it is a fundamental issue. El-Said indicated that the challenges after the pandemic and the Egyptian experience are to mitigate the effects of the pandemic on the national economy and various economic entities by taking a set of policies through which Egypt was able to mitigate the effects of the pandemic.El-Said also referred to the issue of climate change, which receives very great international attention, explaining that Egypt was a pioneer in this matter.She further noted that since the launch of Egypt's Vision 2030, the environmental dimension has been an important dimension that intersects with all issues and all vision goals. El-Said stressed that achieving economic and social goals will not be possible without the environmental dimension and the preservation of resources to guarantee the rights of future generations.El-Said added that the issue of climate change comes as a priority, as Egypt will host the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP27 next November, based on the importance of this issue although Egypt's contribution to emissions does not exceed 0.6%.On the efforts of the Egyptian government and the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development to empower youth, El-Said explained that the ministry has many initiatives, including the Rowad 2030 project The Rowad 2030 (entrepreneurs 2030), to change and help in the appropriate climate for small and emerging projects in Egypt by investing in young people and their abilities with training. The project aims to stimulate and enrich the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in Egypt by developing an integrated innovation system in line with the sustainable development strategy: Egypt Vision 2030.El-Said added that the Rowad 2030 project was included last year in the SDG Good Practices platform of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, among the best projects and practices that achieve the UN goals for sustainable development.El-Said added that the Rowad 2030 project signed cooperation protocols with the universities of Cambridge, Cairo, the American University in Cairo (AUC), the German University in Cairo (GUC), and the Leadership Development Center, to study masters and various grants in entrepreneurship.
 El-Said also referred to the launch of the "Start Your Future" campaign in schools and universities, as well as the establishment of 10 business incubators in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) and tourism.El-Said explained that the importance of the session is a reflection of the strong belief in the capabilities of young people in the Arab world to innovate and to listen to the success stories, ideas, and challenges they face so that the state can provide assistance to overcome these challenges by providing an enabling environment for those stories.At the end of the session, El-Said commented on the experiences presented, explaining that all the experiments depended on a strong foundation of continuous education and training, as well as the adoption of all ideas on the positive use of technology, explaining that the experiments reflected the strong awareness of the youth of the sustainable development goals.