Egypt: The Ministry of Economic Development and Planning participates in the second High-Level African Forum for South-South Cooperation and Uganda’s Triangle Cooperation for Sustainable Development.
As per the recent updates, the representative of The Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, Dr Mona Essam, Assistant Minister for Sustainable Development Affairs, participated in the “Second High-Level African Forum for South-South Cooperation and Tri-Level Cooperation for Sustainable Development”.
The meeting of the African Forum was held in the presence of the President of the Republic of Uganda in the capital Kampala, Uganda.
The forum was organized by both the African Review Mechanism (APRM), the Islamic Development Bank (ISDB), the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation and Trilateral Cooperation (UNOSSC), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the Saudi Development Fund.
“The importance of the session’s topic during the current phase, which revolves around “economic resilience and financing for development”, especially in the light of regional and global challenges, which must be faced, dealt with and recovered from, not resisted.” In her speech, Dr Mona Essam pointed out.
On her part, Assistant Manager Mona Essam further added, “The COVID-19 pandemic has certainly left governments no choice but to work to mitigate the repercussions of the pandemic on growth rates, job opportunities and quality of life of citizens”.
“The pandemic also highlighted the importance of coordination and partnership at all levels to meet the growing demand for funding pandemic resilience and recovery operations while accelerating the achievement of sustainable development goals”, noted Essam.
Moreover, Essam explained that the Egyptian state adopted a proactive approach to facing the crisis based on three basic principles: protection, mitigation, and resilience, to ensure the readiness of the health system as well as maintaining the sustainability of economic activities and protecting the most vulnerable groups.
Essam pointed out during his speech that the crisis created many lessons, including a commitment to continuous economic and social reforms, especially in times of crises, emphasizing the need for efforts to bridge the geographical development gaps, and the most prominent proof of this is the presidential initiative “Generous Life,” and promoting digital readiness.
Additionally, she pointed to the current efforts to formulate the first national strategy to finance the sustainable development goals in Egypt with the participation of 13 national parties in the application of the “Integrated National Funding Framework” methodology presented by the United Nations, which the organization supports countries seeking its implementation.
According to reports, attendance from senior African government officials, representatives of regional and international organizations and funding institutions praised the Egyptian development experience.
Notably, the first edition of the high-level forum was organized in Cairo from 24-25 November 2021. The conference is a regional platform to bring together African countries to discuss mechanisms and tools of South-South and tri-cooperation, as well as opportunities and challenges ahead of cooperation programs in this regard, in accordance with the specificity of the African context.