Local Development Minister Manal Awad met with Richard Budden, Director of Local Governments and Smart Cities at global GIS leader Esri, to discuss strengthening the digital capabilities of Egyptian cities through advanced Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The meeting took place on the sidelines of the 2025 Esri International User Conference in San Diego, California. Also in attendance were Hisham El Helbawy, Assistant Minister for National Projects; Hossam Al Qawish, Assistant Minister for International Cooperation; and several Esri representatives. During the meeting, Awad highlighted the Ministry's conviction that cities are central to driving sustainable development. She stressed that equipping local administrations with accurate, real-time data is the first step towards achieving spatial justice and improving citizens' quality of life. She pointed to the "Atlas of Egyptian Cities" as a successful model showing how GIS can transform local governance. The atlas, she explained, has enhanced the ability of local authorities to monitor demographic and climate changes, set service and investment priorities, and respond more effectively to emerging challenges. Awad noted that the Ministry is working to build the capacity of governorates to use GIS tools to identify development gaps, analyse service efficiency, and ensure more equitable resource allocation—particularly in medium and small cities, which need integrated and targeted interventions. She also underlined the importance of creating interactive digital platforms at the city level. These platforms, she said, would facilitate data exchange, support urban planning, enable knowledge sharing with global partners, and strengthen crisis response and resilient urban expansion efforts. Richard Budden praised the Ministry's progress in digital transformation and noted that the Atlas of Egyptian Cities has become an important reference for local governments globally on applying GIS in evidence-based policymaking. Budden reaffirmed Esri's commitment to supporting medium and small cities in developing countries and expressed readiness to tailor digital toolkits and platforms to fit the needs of Egyptian cities. He also welcomed the idea of launching training programmes in partnership with the Ministry to help create a new generation of planners and decision-makers skilled in using GIS for daily operations and strategic planning. Awad further emphasised the need to deepen integration between spatial planning tools and public budgeting processes to better align local development priorities with resource allocation. She invited Esri to collaborate on developing flexible, integrated tools to support this alignment. Concluding the meeting, she expressed hope to establish clear implementation steps for cooperation in areas such as local planning, urban monitoring, and managing urban growth. These efforts, she said, aim to build smart, inclusive, and resilient Egyptian cities in line with global sustainable development goals. Both sides agreed to expand technical cooperation between the Ministry of Local Development and Esri, guided by a joint roadmap focused on developing geographic platforms, urban tracking applications, and capacity building as part of Egypt's integrated development strategy.
