Egypt: Minister Hala Al-Saeed meets UNDP Director to foster mutual partnerships

Middle East: The Minister of Planning and Economic Development of Egypt, Hala Al-Saeed, met with the Regional Director of the United Nations Development Program for Arab States, Abdullah Al-Dardari to look for ways of cooperation and mutual ties. 

The meeting was held today, July 21, 2023, under the slogan “Accelerating the Coronavirus recovery and full implementation of the development plan Sustainable 2030 at all levels.”

As per the updates, the meeting was important and conducted on the margin of her participation in the High-Level Political Forum for Sustainable Development (HLPF) 2023 held in New York. 

The meeting was attended by Ahmed Kamali, Deputy Minister of Planning, Mona Essam, Assistant Minister for Sustainable Development, and Ambassador Osama Abdel Khaliq, Egypt’s permanent representative to the United Nations in New York.

A number of other officials were also involved, including Alia Khaled, Policy Analyst of the Sustainable Development Unit of the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, members of Egypt’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations, and Alessandro Fracasti, Resident Representative of United Nations Development Program in Egypt.

During the meeting, Hala Al-Saeed emphasized the importance of the Ministry of Planning in its partnership with the United Nations Development Programme in various areas of cooperation currently underway, referring to the collaboration in the Human Development Report 2023 and the steps and workshops done in this regard.

On her part, Hala Al-Saeed noted that Egypt is currently focusing on the localization of sustainable development goals at the governorate level, a sign of the ministry’s efforts in cooperation with the UN Development Program in organizing the side event “Circulation of Local Voluntary Reports to Accelerate the 2030 Plan and Localization of the Sustainable Development Goals.”

The meeting was held during the high-level political forum events to showcase the experience of Egyptians in preparing the local voluntary reports.

She added that it is clear that a number of workshops were held in Fyoum, Lake and Port Said governorates to collect the data included in the report in consultation with several stakeholders.

The cooperation is currently being done to complete the second edition of the Sustainable Development Goals Localization Reports covering 27 Egyptian governorates. 

Furthermore, during the meeting, the desire of the United Nations Development Program to cooperate with the Ministry of Planning on building the capacity of medium-sized enterprises to receive the necessary funding from banks was discussed effectively.

In the end, it was noted that “It is done through working on the offer and request from banks and medium-sized companies, as well as effective cooperation on the economic reform programme.