● The meeting discusses future areas of cooperation within the Egypt - United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) 2023 - 2027
● Minister of International Cooperation: Promoting cooperation with UNIDO to empower the private sector through the “Private Sector Engagement Portal” Hub for Advisory, Finance and Investment for Enterprises.
● The Regional Director of UNIDO confirms the organization’s keenness to strengthen joint relations with the government to improve the infrastructure for green and sustainable industry solutions
Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of International Cooperation, received Dr. Patrick Jean Guillabert, Regional Director and Representative of the Regional Office of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in Egypt, at the Ministry’s headquarters in the New Administrative Capital. This was in the presence of Mr. Ahmed Rizk, Deputy Representative of the Regional Office, and several others to discuss joint cooperation relations with UNIDO in many fields related to industrial development and green industries, as well as the ongoing cooperation portfolio.
The Minister welcomed UNIDO officials, stressing the importance of joint cooperation with the organization in light of the Government of Egypt’s priorities to achieve comprehensive and sustainable industrial development, through the Country Partnership Program (PCP) for the period 2021-2025, under the umbrella of the Egypt - United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) 2023 - 2027.
The two sides discussed the ongoing development cooperation portfolio implemented by UNIDO in Egypt in cooperation with the relevant national authorities. The discussions touched on the organization’s efforts to promote green industries and enable manufacturing companies to move to renewable energy, in addition to examining ways to benefit from the comparative advantage of the UN agencies, as well as UNIDO’s expertise during the coming period. This includes unifying joint development cooperation efforts with other development partners such as the World Bank and investment funds in climate and environment in order to maximize the benefit of development financing, and implement the industrial development strategy and promote trade in partnership with the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
The Minister also touched on UNIDO’s participation in the country platform of the “NWFE” program, the nexus of water, food and energy projects, which includes priority projects under the umbrella of the National Climate Change Strategy 2050, by benefiting from the organization’s expertise in the field of green hydrogen, and enhancing mitigation and adaptation efforts to the negative effects of climate change in Egypt.
The Minister of International Cooperation referred to the efforts made within the framework of the partnership with the United Nations, to support the country’s efforts to achieve sustainable development, through the five groups of joint work, which are enhancing human capital; comprehensive and sustainable economic development; resilience to climate change, efficient natural resource management; governance and transparency, and empowerment of women and girls.
The Minister applauded the prior cooperation with the organization in the field of enhancing the private role in development, most notably UNIDO’s participation in the global ClimaTechRun competition, which was organized in 2022 and 2023 within the climate conference, and which is considered a model of constructive partnerships between the government, international development partners and the private sector and major technology companies, with the goal to expand the scope of climate action for startups. Over the two editions, 422 startups and 166 digital artists from 98 countries participated in the competition.
The UNIDO also participated in disseminating its services in the field of capacity building and technical assistance provided to the private sector through the Ministry of International Cooperation’s Private Sector Engagement Portal: Hub for Advisory, Finance and Investment for Enterprises, as well as the partnership through the initiative of the Joint United Nations Team on Digitization and Innovation (JTDI) to organize a series of workshops to crystallize ideas between the Egyptian government and the United Nations on technology and innovation. The workshops aim to create innovative and atypical government project ideas using the latest innovation management methods and linking these projects with emerging technology companies.
For his part, the Regional Director applauded the ongoing cooperation between UNIDO and the Egyptian government, expressing the organization’s agreement with national efforts aimed at improving national industrial capabilities, noting that UNIDO’s current portfolio in Egypt is the third largest of the organization’s main portfolios in the world after China and India. He stressed the organization’s keenness to continue strengthening its development relationship with the Egyptian government towards improving the national infrastructure for green and sustainable industry solutions, adding that the organization is currently working to expand its operations towards supporting efforts to improve the standard of living of the most needy groups and enhancing the Egyptian state’s path towards achieving sustainable development.
It is worth noting that the ongoing portfolio of the UNIDO in Egypt includes 18 projects worth $52 million, including the program for transitioning to a circular economy, the program for supporting trade and industry, growth and access to markets, promoting green growth in industry, and enhancing energy efficiency in various industries and supporting the efforts of the Egyptian state in implementing the international obligations of the Montreal Protocol, and others.
Last year, the Ministry of International Cooperation organized the Egypt-UN Week during which a number of field visits were organized for projects implemented within the partnership with various United Nations agencies, and the project to enhance energy efficiency towards a climate-friendly industry and the use of solar energy plants in heating operations in the sector was inspected. The industrial project, which is implemented by UNIDO, at Sidi Kerir Petrochemical Company.
Al-Mashat and Elena Panova, United Nations Resident Coordinator in Egypt, recently chaired the Joint Steering Committee for the UNSDCF 2023 - 2027. The framework includes 5 results groups, chaired by the parties. National and UN agencies, and UNIDO is scheduled to co-chair the results group for the axis of promoting comprehensive economic development in 2025 and 2026.