DURING HLPF 2023 ACTIVITIES IN NY: EGYPT'S PLANNING MINISTER, UN DESA UNDER-SECRETARY DISCUSS WAYS TO ACHIEVE SDGS
H.E. Dr. Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, met with Mr. Li Junhua, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs to discuss ways to achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs).
The meeting witnessed the presence of Ambassador Osama Abdel Khalek, Egypt's permanent representative to the United Nations in New York, and Egypt's permanent mission to the United Nations.
During the meeting, Dr. Hala El-Said stressed the importance of discussing ways to achieve sustainable development goals, especially with the approaching summit of the sustainable development goals, which presents a wide range of development challenges and provides a unique opportunity to radically change course in the middle of the road to the 2030 Agenda.
Dr. Hala El-Said reviewed the Egyptian state's efforts to achieve sustainable development goals, noting that Egypt hosted the Cairo Center for the Localization of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), announced at COP27.
She explained that the center's goal is to be an Egyptian center of excellence in sustainable development goals, through capacity building, preparation of methodologies and mechanisms necessary to localize the sustainable development goals, strengthening partnerships, and providing support to local and national governments, civil society, academic institutions, international and regional organizations, development partners, and the private sector.
El-Said indicated that Egypt is focusing on localizing sustainable development goals at the governorate level, in cooperation with the United Nations. She pointed to the side event organized by Egypt during the high-level political forum this year on the circulation of local voluntary reports to accelerate the 2030 plan.
This is to present the Egyptian experience of preparing voluntary local reports. Workshops were held in Fayoum, Beheira, and Port Said. These workshops were to collect data and consult on voluntary local reports among various stakeholders.
El-Said referred to the preparation for the second edition of the sustainable development goals localization reports covering 27 governorates in cooperation with the UNDP. She announced an increase in indicator coverage from 32 indicators in 2020 to 45 needles in 2023.
At the Sustainable Development Goals Summit, El-Said said that the summit is an opportunity to discuss the most common challenges in implementing sustainable development goals, noting the importance of relying on multiple stakeholders to achieve the best actual benefit for all partners outside the summit.
Concerning the cooperation with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs UNDESA, El-Said commended the wide range of platforms provided by UNDESA to share best practices and updates on voluntary national reports.
El-Said pointed out the inclusion of the "Decent Life" initiative among the best practices on UNDESA as one of the accelerators for achieving the sustainable development goals, and its recognition as one of the success stories for the localization of the sustainable development goals, as it comprehensively implements all 17 SDGs.
El-Said pointed out the importance of the financing issue, which represents a challenge for all countries. She also mentioned Egypt's COP27 success. She also pointed to the role of The Sovereign Fund of Egypt (TSFE) in encouraging the private sector by signing memorandums of understanding with different companies.
At the end of the meeting, the Minister of Planning and Economic Development stressed that the establishment of a sustainable environmental system is still a top priority for Egypt.
The Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations praised the representation at the high-level political forum, which included about 80 ministers.
He also praised Egypt's submission of 3 voluntary national reports on sustainable development during the previous years. In addition, Egypt submitted this year voluntary local reports for the governorates of Fayoum, Beheira, and Port Said. This proves Egypt's determination to accelerate sustainable development goals implementation.