Egypt is preparing 3rd voluntary report on work achieved towards SDGs

CAIRO - 9 February 2021: Minister of Planning and Economic Development Hala al-Said stated Monday that the ministry is currently preparing the third voluntary report showcasing the work implemented to achieve the 2030 sustainable development goals (SDGs), and that it will be released later in 2021.

In her speech before the House of Representatives, El-Said pointed out that Egypt Vision 2030 is the national version of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and Africa's Agenda 2063, and it provides a strategic vision and performance indicators that are measured periodically.

El-Said added that the ministry had presented the Voluntary National Review (VNR) report twice at the plenary sessions of the High-Level International Forum on Sustainable Development in July 2016 and 2018.

El-Said highlighted that Egypt ranks 83rd globally as indicated by the recent United Nations sustainable development report issued by the University of Cambridge, compared to the 92nd position in 2019.

El-Said also indicated that Egypt has achieved more than the goals set in Egypt Vision 2030 with regard to many indicators, including infrastructure, availability of services to citizens, drinking water services, sanitation, electricity, quality of infrastructure, and competitiveness of travel and tourism.

However, performing well in certain realms is still a challenge, and those include achieving more gender equality and raising women's participation in the labor market.

That is in addition to creating a more attractive business environment to local and foreign investors, and enhancing indicators related to education, especially illiteracy rates, as well as health indicators.

El-Said also affirmed that the ministry is working on updating the strategy in line with certain developments, including the implementation of the economic reform program in 2016.

“The Ministry is working on updating the strategy to deal with some issues such as the issue of overpopulation and the development of the Egyptian family, scarcity of water, financial inclusion, and the repercussions of the Covid 19 pandemic, which imposed a reordering of priorities,” El-Said explained.

The minister indicated that the participatory approach was followed in formulating, implementing, and following up all development plans and programs, in addition to paying attention to encouraging positive participation by the citizen. Therefore, the ministry issued a citizen’s plan or “Citizen's Guide to a Sustainable Development Plan” for all Egyptian governorates for two consecutive years, to achieve transparency and encourage community participation.

El-Said pointed out that the ministry launched the application "Share 2030" as the first mobile application that aims to raise awareness of the goals of sustainable development and the government's efforts to implement these goals through specific performance indicators and projects.

“Share 2030” provides an opportunity for citizens to submit proposals for development initiatives and projects in all governorates as well as monitoring achievement rates in the context of adopting the concept of “citizen follow-up”, as part of the state’s drive towards access to information and transparency

El-Said emphasized that all these measures and reforms, especially those related to the availability of data and raising the efficiency of public spending, resulted in Egypt leading 47 ranks in the Budget Transparency Index, from the 110th position in 2018 to the 63rd position in 2019.