During her speech at the opening of the Arab Week for Sustainable Development (ASD Week): H.E. Dr. Hala El-Said, Egypt’s Minister of Planning and Economic Development: It is expected to achieve a growth rate of about 6% in the current FY 21/2022

Egypt's hosting of COP 27 for 2022 reflects the pivotal role it plays regionally & internationally

Egypt’s Ministry of Planning and Economic Development inaugurated on Sunday the activities of the first day of the Arab Week for Sustainable Development (ASD) in its fourth edition, under the title "Together for a Sustainable Recovery", which was launched by the Ministry in cooperation with the Arab League.
 The first week of sustainable development was launched under the auspices of the President of the Republic, H.E. President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi with the participation of Mr. Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Secretary-General of the Arab League, several ministers, ambassadors, representatives of parliaments, and representatives of local, regional and international organizations and bodies.

In her speech, delivered on her behalf by Dr. Ahmed Kamali, Deputy Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Dr. Hala El-Said said that the convening of the Arab Sustainable Development Week this year in its fourth edition under the title "Together for Sustainable Recovery" comes after the tangible successes witnessed by the previous sessions of this Arab forum, which It started five years ago.
 El-Said added that during that period, Egypt was keen to host and organize it with fruitful cooperation and an extended development partnership with the Arab League, the World Bank, the United Nations, and the European Union.This forum, which enjoys wide attention and high-level participation, becomes a regional platform for dialogue between representatives of governments, the private sector, civil society, women, youth, and the media. This is in addition to universities, specialized research centers, and Arab, regional and international organizations, all of which seek to enhance cooperation to implement the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, and work to find solutions and successful treatments for development issues and challenges in the Arab region.El-Said added that the current version represents the first meeting of the Arab Week for Sustainable Development (ASD) after the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic. It is being held at a time when the whole world, with the Arab region at its heart, is witnessing rapid economic and social conditions and changes that impose more challenges and burdens on Arab countries.El-Said explained that the problem of financing for development is no longer related only to the problem of distributing available resources to projects that accelerate the implementation of the UN agenda, but there has become a shortfall in the volume of funding available worldwide.El-Said added that the issue of financing for development represents one of the most important determinants of the ability of countries to move forward in implementing programs and projects to achieve sustainable development. El-Said explained that the most important thing that unites plans and programs to achieve development, whether in the international framework or the national and regional frameworks, is its need to provide funding and mobilize the necessary resources. This is linked to its urgent need for an effective partnership between governments, the private sector, civil society, and financial institutions to provide the increasing financing needs.El-Said indicated that, according to international reports, the total volume of global government spending on sectors related to the sustainable development goals reached about $21 trillion at the end of 2019. El-Said added that there are noticeable disparities in the level of spending between different countries and regions of the world, as the financing gap for the sustainable development goals in developing countries ranges between $ 3.3 to 7 trillion annually, with an addition of about $ 2.5 trillion in 2020 as a result of the repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic.


In her speech delivered by Dr. Ahmed Kamali, El-Said added that the regional average of stimulus packages for countries in the region to face the repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic amounted to about 4% of the GDP of those countries, with a value of $95 billion, which is much lower than the estimated global average of 22%. Its value is about $19 trillion.El-Said pointed out that among other challenges imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, countries need digital transformation and the related availability of technology, and the creation of the necessary infrastructure. Before the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, nearly 350 million people in the Arab region did not have access to the Internet.El-Said added that in addition to all this, the environmental challenges associated with climate change have become a compelling reality, as it is a very serious issue, especially with the increasing frequency of violent weather events.El-Said explained that the Arab region is at the heart of these environmental challenges, especially as the region has a long history of dealing with the harsh climate. El-Said pointed out that the Arab region includes 14 of the 20 most water-stressed countries in the world, as the region's annual internal water resources amount to only 6% of the average annual precipitation, compared to a global average of 38%.El-Said added that while the Covid-19 crisis and its ensuing economic and social repercussions came, the Egyptian state had already made great strides in reforms and serious efforts that it started seven years ago intending to achieve comprehensive and sustainable development, through the launch of the "Egypt Vision 2030", as well as the implementation of the first phase of The National Program for Economic and Social Reform.El-Said stressed the state’s keenness during those years to continue the boom in public investments and pump huge and unprecedented investments to move the economy at an accelerated pace, advance the investment, production, and employment wheel in all economic sectors, and focus on creating infrastructure and advancing the human and social development sectors.El-Said added that the Covid-19 crisis came at a time when the Egyptian economy was witnessing the beginning of a remarkable boom in various indicators in light of the serious reforms taken by the Egyptian state in recent years, which began to bear fruit, the Egyptian economy achieved an upward growth rate of about 5.6% in the first half of the year 2020/19.




 El-Said explained that this strengthened the ability of the Egyptian state to move quickly and deliberately to confront the Covid-19 crisis, and gave it an appropriate financial space to take many financial and monetary economic measures, which were characterized by a large degree of comprehensiveness.
 El-Said added that the value of the allocations for the comprehensive plan to deal with the crisis exceeded 2% of GDP and aimed to improve the lives of citizens, in addition to the state's efforts to support regular and irregular employment, and to provide support to the main sectors affected by the crisis, the most important of which are: the health sector, tourism, industry, and projects. In her speech delivered by Dr. Ahmed Kamali, Deputy and Minister of Planning and Economic Development, El-Said indicated that Egypt continues to implement national projects and development initiatives and mobilize resources and huge financings required by projects.El-Said referred to the "Decent Life" initiative, which is considered the largest development initiative in the history of Egypt and the world in terms of the volume of funding and the number of beneficiaries. She explained that one of the indicators of the initiative's success is its effective contribution to reducing poverty rates and providing services in the villages covered by the initiative, noting that this success was crowned by the United Nations' inclusion of the "Decent Life" initiative among international best practices.El-Said affirmed the contribution of the measures, policies, and efforts taken by the Egyptian state to strengthening the elements of resilience and resilience of the Egyptian economy in the face of the crisis. El-Said explained that this was reflected in the positive indicators witnessed by the Egyptian economy, following up that despite the repercussions of the pandemic, the Egyptian economy had succeeded in achieving a growth rate of 3.3% during the fiscal year 20/2021 and 3.6% in the year 19/2020.El-Said added that the growth rate is expected to reach about 6% in the current fiscal year 21/2022, driven by the growth spurt achieved in the first quarter of the year (9.8%), which is the highest growth rate in 20 years, which is confirmed by international institutions that raise their expectations. for the Egyptian economy, respectively.



El-Said added that the efforts made by the Egyptian state to achieve development at the national level did not distract it from active participation in all development initiatives, whether at the regional, Arab, or international levels, due to its responsibility and its constant keenness to cooperate with all parties of the international community towards development issues.El-Said pointed to Egypt's participation in the UN efforts to achieve sustainable development within the framework of the United Nations through the 2030 Sustainable Development Plan, adding that Egypt is among only 10 countries in the world that submit national review reports to follow up on the UN Sustainable Development Goals during the years 2016, 2018 and 2021.
El-Said explained that Egypt is also opening up to the world to provide data that clarify the state of development in it. El-Said confirmed Egypt's pride in winning the hosting of the summit of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (COP 27) for the year 2022 in Sharm El Sheikh.El-Said explained that this comes as a reflection of the pivotal role that Egypt plays regionally and internationally, especially as this conference will provide a platform for Arab, African, and developing countries in general to express their requirements in this important development issue.El-Said stressed that the Egyptian state is working with all its institutions to make this global event a success, which aims to achieve tangible progress in priority areas, such as climate financing, adaptation, reducing environmental pollution, and mitigating its negative repercussions.El-Said talked about the launch of the "Financing Sustainable Development in Egypt" report, explaining that it is the first report of its kind at the national level. The report is part of a promising project to cooperate with the Arab League to study the state of financing for development in the Arab countries to find a sustainable mechanism for financing in the future. El-Said explained that the report's chapters are written by a group of independent Egyptian experts, professors, and researchers in the fields of economy and development, and development partners from international organizations contributed to reviewing the report.