Egypt's Minister of Planning, Follow-Up and Administrative Reform Hala El-Saeed has said Egypt seeks to make good use of all available funding resources, through cutting public spending and modernizing its national planning system. According to a press release by the ministry, speaking at a high-level political forum on sustainable development, which is currently held at the UN headquarters in New York, El-Saeed added that Egypt is revamping its national planning mechanism to be used as an electronic tool to soundly assess the performance of different state bodies and make an efficient allocation of resources. In this regard, the minister pointed to the establishment of Egypt's sovereign fund as one of mechanisms to mobilize resources and benefit from the country's untapped assets, with a view to creating better opportunities for investment and effective partnerships between the public and private sectors and contributing to achieving sustainable and comprehensive development. The minister added that the state introduced several legislative and institutional reforms, with the aim of simplifying measures to set up projects, enhance the business environment, stimulate the private sector's investments and bring about an overall and sustainable growth. She touched on the government's plan for restructuring the state's administrative apparatus and turning into a digital community, as well as promoting the usage of e-payment systems and the application of the financial inclusion policies. The government is paying greater attention to encouraging sustainable development strategies in governorates, in a bid to benefit from their comparative advantages, and to achieve the concept of inclusive, sustainable growth and balanced regional development as one of the cornerstones of Egypt's Vision 2030, El-Saeed also said. With regard to the African Union's 2063 Agenda, she said Egypt is keen on boosting cooperation with all African states in the different fields, citing the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) that has come into force recently. As for cooperation with Arab states, El-Saeed stressed that Cairo pays special attention to fostering cooperation with Arab countries to realize sustainable development at the Arab level. Source: MENA
