Egypt's progress on sustainable development is acknowledged globally. Egypt is one of the early adopters of sustainable development and has meanwhile submitted its second Voluntary National Review (VNR) to the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) in 2018, the United Nations (UN) Resident Coordinator in Egypt, Richard Dictus, said. “We are much looking forward to continuing our close partnership with the Ministry of Planning and Administrative Reform for the 2021 Voluntary National Report,” he added over his speech at last week's event organised on the occasion of the 74th anniversary of the UN Day. As outlined in the first article of the first chapter of its charter, the UN was founded to achieve international peace and security, friendly relations among nations and universal peace, and international co-operation, and respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms, he said. Dictus added that Egypt is a founding member of the UN, one of the major troop-contributing countries to the UN Peacekeeping, and has been a non-permanent member of the Security Council for five times, noting that Egypt chaired the UN Group of 77 last year in New York and this year in Rome. Egypt is home to some 36 United Nations offices and can be considered as one of the organisation's major regional hubs, Dictus noted. He added that in 2018, the government and the UN agreed on the 2018-2022 United Nations Partnership Development Framework (UNPDF). The UNPDF is founded in a close and extensive consultative process with the government of Egypt and other stakeholders, he assured, noting that the UNPDF is driven by the alignment to the national sustainable development strategy, Egypt's Vision 2030. The UNPDF is proving its value in being able to identify and articulate the UN systems, focusing on sustainable development, he mentioned. “At the same time, it also highlights the need for greater operational alignment to the national sustainable development strategy – and we are awaiting the new national plan to ensure we deepen this process,” he added. UN provides pertinent, catalytic, and timely policy advice in strategic sustainable development areas such as education reform and the recently adopted Universal Health Insurance Law, he noted. During the past year, the UN has been collaborating with the Ministry of Planning and Administrative Reform to provide integrated policy support to the multidimensional challenge of achieving sustainable development, as articulated in Egypt's Vision 2030. “We explored how the government could organise for multiplied success, with greater emphasis on formalized coordination and making sure that well-articulated national plans find their expression in the national budget and medium-term public investment thinking,” he stated. Egypt can build on its recent successes in establishing macro-economic stability and become a global example of how sustainable development can bring a nation to unprecedented levels of prosperity and well-being for all its citizens, including marginalised groups, youth, women, and children, he said. In order to achieve the aspirations of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), further investment will be required in data management and analysis as well as monitoring and evaluation systems and mechanisms strengthening in pursuit of evidence-based integrated policy solutions, he said.
