Minister of International Cooperation, H.E. Dr. Rania Al Mashat, congratulated Egypt for scoring the highest implementation for the Sustainable Development Goals by 50% in the region, according to a report by the United Nations ESCWA.
“We continue our efforts to progress towards the SDGs and telling our story through People&Projects&Purpose,” H.E. Dr Rania Al Mashat stated, “Egypt’s commitment to drive meaningful progress continues in this decade of action to achieving the SDGs.” The report was developed by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics in collaboration with UNICEF and the UN Resident Coordinator, which uses visualizations for a quicker grasp of data as well as proxy local indicators to identify data gaps and reflect the national development priorities. To facilitate national and international reporting of SDGs and ensure the optimal contribution of development cooperation projects to the development goals, the Ministry of International Cooperation conducted a comprehensive mapping exercise of all current effective projects to identify their alignment with relevant SDGs. This makes Egypt one of the few countries to conduct the mapping exercise, Al Mashat, with a cooperation portfolio that amounts to 25 billion dollars. Through the Ministry of International Cooperation, there are currently over 300 projects with various development partners across multiple sectors including in education, transportation, water desalination, renewable energy, entrepreneurship, women empowerment, among others that are in line with the United Nations 17 SDGs. With an aim to transparently showcase all projects and their impact on the communities, the Ministry launched the ‘Global Partnerships Narrative’; the third pillar of economic diplomacy, which is focused on three pillars: people at the core, projects in action and purpose as the driver to achieve the SDGs. This is to mobilize and strengthen Egypt’s inclusive multilateral engagement with development partners, governments, private sector and the civil society to effectively deliver the UN Sustainable Development Goals aimed at achieving a circular economy. Ministry of International Cooperation supervises the implementation of the (UNPDF), and chairs the Steering Committee for the framework with the UN Resident Coordinator in Egypt. This focuses on four outcomes: inclusive Economic Development, social Justice, environmental sustainability and natural resource Management and women's empowerment.