Alhakim made his comments yesterday in a meeting with Prime Minister Sherif Ismail in Cairo during his official visit to Egypt, the first of its kind, after he took over his functions at the helm of ESCWA last May.
The Egyptian Prime Minister affirmed his country’s commitment to collaborating with ESCWA, and exchanging expertise on social and economic development issues. He also stressed his full support for efforts undertaken by ESCWA in securing the interests of its member States.
Prime Minister Ismail said that Egypt was making concerted efforts to overcome economic and social challenges and other long-term problems through various economic and social reform programmes adopted by the Government, and through the enactment of legislation contributing to the success of those programmes. He added that the reform programmes provided greater social protection to citizens.
The meeting with the Egyptian Prime Minister was an opportunity for the Executive Secretary to emphasize the commitment of ESCWA to providing all types of assistance to member States in implementing their sustainable development plans and achieving economic and social development goals, by adopting various ambitious work programmes to overcome the numerous challenges facing Arab countries, including poverty and youth issues.
Technical Cooperation Framework
The Executive Secretary had met on the same day with Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry ahead of the signing ceremony of a technical cooperation framework between ESCWA, represented by Deputy Executive Secretary for Program Support Khawla Matar, and the Egyptian Government, represented by Assistant Foreign Minister for International Economic Relations Ambassador Ashraf Ibrahim. The technical cooperation framework determines strategic areas and cooperation priorities such as following up on the implementation of the Sustainable Developments Goals (SDGs); developing pilot projects on women’s related issues, youth and population; economic development for policy-making; technical support in the field of Statistics; and scenarios relating to the Arab Customs Union (ACU) and its implications, as well as other subjects.
In the meeting with Minister Shoukry, the latter expressed appreciation for the role of ESCWA in promoting sustainable development efforts in member countries and for its studies and reports. He also expressed his hope to expand bilateral cooperation with ESCWA in the areas of technical support, capacity building and transfer of best practices to the Egyptian side in various economic, social and development sectors, reflecting the Egyptian priorities in this regard.
During his three-day official visit to Egypt, the Executive Secretary met with Minister of Social Solidarity Ghada Wali; Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy Mohamed Shaker; Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El Molla; and Minister of Planning, Monitoring and Administrative Reform Hala Said.
In his talks with Minister Wali, the Executive Secretary discussed how to support the efforts of the Ministry of Social Solidarity in activating the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and benefiting from the information collected by the Ministry to develop policies that contribute to further integration; combatting poverty and marginalization; empowering women; and supporting efforts specifically for policies and legislations related to disability, noting that 2018 is dedicated to people with special needs in Egypt, where the Ministry of Social Solidarity is preparing a detailed plan on how to create jobs for people with special needs.
In the meeting with Minister Shaker, alternative energy issues as well as reliance on the private sector and renewable energy were discussed. The ministry has been able to achieve progress in the provision of electricity to the largest segment of citizens in Egypt, which set an example to be followed by other Arab countries in need of support in this field. Using clean coal and how to provide alternative energy at low cost were also discussed in addition to the establishment of a nuclear power plant.
As to the meeting with Minister El-Molla, the latter reviewed the petroleum and gas sector’s plan to develop and modernize itself so as to secure optimal economic benefits from various sources and natural resources, and to transform Egypt into a regional trading centre for petroleum and gas. The Minister also presented the economic reforms undertaken by the Government, in parallel with plans to develop and modernize the sector, which will attract further investments.
For his part, the Executive Secretary expressed his backing for effective collaboration between ESCWA and the petroleum sector through technical support and capacity-building for petroleum sector projects, given their role in strengthening collaboration between Arab countries, achieving regional integration and promoting information exchange. He added that ESCWA was one of five regional commissions established by the United Nations to achieve the economic and social goals enshrined in its Charter.
During his visit to Egypt, where he addressed yesterday the 100th Session of the Economic and Social Council of the League of Arab States (LAS), the Executive Secretary met on the sidelines with LAS Assistant Secretary-General for Media and Communication Haifa Abu Ghazala and LAS Assistant Secretary-General for Social Affairs Ambassador Badreddine Alali.
Executive Secretary Mohamed Ali Alhakim was accompanied on his official visit to Egypt by his Deputy for Program Support Khawla Mattar, ESCWA Secretary of the Commission Karim Khalil, Chief of Economic Governance and Planning Ahmed Kamali and Team Assistant Zalfa Hobballah.
*****
For more information:
Nabil Abu-Dargham +961-70-99 31 44; email: dargham@un.org
ECIU email: escwa-ciu@un.org
For more ESCWA news, please visit:
Website: www.unescwa.org Facebook: www.facebook.com/unescwa Twitter: @ESCWACIU
