Al-Saeed continues her bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the political forum in New York
Dr. Hala Al-Saeed, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, met with Li Junhua, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations, to discuss ways to achieve the sustainable development goals, on the sidelines of her participation in the High-Level Political Forum for Sustainable Development (HLPF) 2023 held in New York under the theme “Accelerating recovery from the Corona virus and fully implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at all levels” from 10-19 July.
The meeting was attended by 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 Al-Saeed stressed the importance of discussing ways to achieve the 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 Al-Said reviewed the efforts of the Egyptian state in achieving the sustainable development goals, noting that Egypt hosted the Cairo Center for the Localization of Sustainable Development Goals, which was announced at the Conference of the Parties to Climate Change COP27, explaining that the center’s goal is to be an Egyptian center of excellence in the sustainable development goals, through capacity building, preparation of methodologies and mechanisms necessary for the localization of 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.
Al-Said indicated that Egypt is focusing on localizing the sustainable development goals at the governorate level, in cooperation with the United Nations, pointing to the side event organized by Egypt during the activities of the high-level political forum this year on the dissemination of local voluntary reports to accelerate the 2030 plan in order to present the Egyptian experience in the preparations of voluntary local reports, where a number of workshops were held in the governorates of Fayoum, Beheira and Port Said to collect data and consult on the content of voluntary local reports among various stakeholders, referring to the preparation for the second edition of the localization of sustainable development goals reports covering 27 governorates in cooperation With UNDP, announcing an increase in coverage of indicators from 32 indicators in 2020 to about 45 indicators in 2023.
on the Sustainable Development Goals Summit; Al-Said said that the summit is an opportunity to discuss the most common challenges in implementing the sustainable development goals, noting the importance of relying on multiple stakeholders to achieve the best actual benefit for all partners outside the summit.
With regard to cooperation with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs UNDESA, Al-Said praised the wide range of platforms provided by UNDESA to share best practices and updates of voluntary national reports, noting 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 sustainable development goals.
El-Said pointed out the importance of the financing issue, which represents a challenge for all countries. She also pointed to the success achieved by Egypt in hosting the COP27 Climate Change Conference, and the role of the Sovereign Fund of Egypt in encouraging the private sector by signing a number of 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, and is embodied in the 2030 Sustainable Development Strategy, and that sustainable growth can only be achieved by supporting a more dynamic participation of the private sector and international partners with the help of the United Nations system.
For his part, the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations praised the representation in the high-level political forum, which includes about 80 ministers. He also praised Egypt’s submission of 3 voluntary national reports for sustainable development during the previous years, and its submission this year of voluntary local reports for the governorates of Fayoum, Beheira and Port Said, which proves Egypt’s determination to accelerate the implementation of the goals of sustainable development.
