• "Al-Mashat": Developing macroeconomic policies to drive development efforts and increase investments in the health, education sectors, and industrial localization.
• Enhancing integration and coordination with development partners and leveraging comparative advantages to focus on productive sectors, small and medium-sized enterprises development, and increasing employment rates.
• "Human Development Report" represents a major axis of partnership with the United Nations Development Programme for reviewing, analyzing, and improving development policies and issues in Egypt.
• UN Assistant Secretary-General: Integrating the Ministries of Planning and International Cooperation reflects the governmental vision to achieve harmony between macroeconomic policies and international cooperation.
• We look forward to enriching relationships with new partnerships to shape and implement economic policies that drive sustainable development goals in Egypt.
H.E. Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation, held a meeting with Dr. Abdallah Al Dardari, UN Assistant Secretary-General, Assistant Administrator and Director, and Regional Bureau for Arab States of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in the presence of Mr. Alessandro Fracassetti, UNDP Resident Representative to Egypt, and several officials from the programme and the ministry's team.
H.E. Dr. Rania Al-Mashat welcomed officials from the United Nations Development Programme, affirming that the programme is a strategic partner of the Egyptian government in many areas that enhance comprehensive and sustainable development efforts. Minister Al-Mashat emphasized the importance of increasing integration and coordination with development partners and leveraging comparative advantages to focus on productive sectors and small and medium-sized enterprises.
The Minister of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation noted that the new government is working on developing macroeconomic policies to drive development efforts, enhance investments in health, education sectors, industrial localization, and increase investments. H.E. Dr. Al-Mashat explained that the programme is a partner in advancing the national development agenda, expanding private sector participation, investing in human capital, facilitating innovative and green financing tools, supporting micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, and improving the climate and investment prospects, both domestically and internationally, and financing sustainable development goals. She mentioned that the "Human Development Report" represents a major axis of cooperation with the UNDP for reviewing and analyzing development policies and issues in Egypt.
The UN Assistant Secretary-General congratulated Dr. Rania Al-Mashat on assuming the portfolio of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation, confirming that it is an important step indicating the government's vision to increase and enhance harmony between macroeconomic policies, its various sectors, international cooperation, and development to achieve sustainable development and other areas. He also emphasized the programme's readiness to enhance strategic partnership with the government to enrich the cooperation portfolio with new partnerships in macroeconomic sectors, policy formulation and implementation, diagnostic studies, climate finance mechanisms, and building on successful joint relationships between the Egyptian government and development partners.
He also expressed readiness to enhance cooperation with the government in implementing the projects of the "NWFE" national platform, the nexus between water, food, and energy projects, and the technical support that can be provided through the programme due to its importance for the regional and international climate action agenda.
The two sides discussed preparations for the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), scheduled to be held in July at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, with the participation of H.E. Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, under the auspices of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), with the title "Enhancing the 2030 Agenda and Eradicating Poverty in Times of Multiple Crises: Effective Implementation of Sustainable, Flexible, and Innovative Solutions," and the ministerial sessions scheduled during the forum, as well as preparations for the 2024 Future Summit, scheduled to be held during the seventy-ninth session of the United Nations General Assembly in September.
Minister of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation, H.E. Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, reviewed priorities for working with the UN Assistant Secretary-General within the partnership framework between the two sides and the strategic framework of the partnership between Egypt and the United Nations for Sustainable Development 2023-2027. H.E. Dr. Al-Mashat emphasized the importance of partnership with the programme in enhancing South-South and triangular cooperation, where the programme represents an important regional platform to highlight the pioneering Egyptian experience in many fields. She also addressed the first meeting of the New Development Bank (NDB) in Egypt and the importance of partnerships with southern countries in overcoming common development challenges.
H.E. Dr. Rania Al-Mashat also referred to the annual report issued during 2023 by the ministry, which presents mechanisms of cooperation with development partners, noting that various efforts with multilateral and bilateral development partners significantly contribute to enhancing sustainable development efforts in Egypt. The Minister also discussed debt swap programs with Italy and Germany, under which many development projects have been implemented, serving as a model. H.E. Dr. Al-Mashat reiterated the experience with the Chinese side through signing the first of its kind memorandum of understanding with China last year for debt swaps for development.
The meeting also addressed cooperation with the UNDP in achieving sustainable development goals and supporting the Egyptian economy through various mechanisms that enhance employment opportunities, reduce unemployment rates, and alleviate poverty in response to state priorities in human capital development, as well as enhancing national capacities regarding the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and Carbon Taxonomy mechanisms and other mechanisms that enhance national climate action.
Discussions included developments related to cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Global Fund for Coral Reefs (GFCR) under the Egyptian Initiative for the Red Sea, to combat climate change and its effects on coral reefs in the Red Sea, and enhance national investment efforts to preserve coral reefs, within Egypt's efforts in biodiversity and conservation of natural reserves, where the Red Sea Initiative is a model for the importance of multi-party cooperation in paving the way for enhancing the capacity to adapt and mitigate the social, economic, and environmental effects of climate change.
The discussions also included the Egyptian state's interest in the development of the Northwest Coast and building on the pioneering Egyptian experience in integrated development within the Northwest Coast Development Project and the removal of mines in its phases, implemented through the United Nations Development Programme, in collaboration with the Egyptian government, supported by the European Union, during the period from 2007 to 2017, and the importance of providing tools and mechanisms for reintegrating mine victims into the economy as productive members of society.