BEIJING/CAIRO – Egypt’s Minister of International Cooperation Rania Mashat has stressed the consensus across the vision of both Egypt and China in taking into account the national priorities of each country in the international agenda for sustainable development.
The minister made her remarks during her participation in a high-level meeting held by Han Zheng, Vice President of the People’s Republic of China, at an invitation of the Chinese Vice President to the minister to represent Egypt and the African continent in the meeting, along with representatives of delegations of countries and organizations participating in the 1st High-Level Meeting of the Forum on Global Action for Shared Development in Beijing, China.
The meeting aimed to discuss the results of the forum, to identify the views of the participating officials and proposals for development and improvement of work mechanisms during the upcoming sessions in light of strengthening efforts to implement the SDGs; all in response to the Global Development Initiative (GDI) put forward by the Chinese President in 2021.
Mashat highlighted the importance of the conference, which comes at a vital time, especially at the level of development challenges and global crises impacting emerging economies and developing countries, explaining that the GDI put forward by the Chinese president at a time is an important initiative to implement the SDGs.
The minister was keen to point out that the vision of the leaders of both countries, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping puts forward the importance of ensuring that national strategies are in line with global development objectives, stressing the need to ensure just finance in development and climate action, especially for developing and emerging countries to implement their ambitions and catch up with global development.
She called for the establishment of an institutional framework for the Forum on Global Action for Shared Development, and turning it into an annual meeting provided that a semi-annual review and workshops be held in partnership between China and one of the countries of the South to emphasize the role of South-South cooperation in promoting global development goals in parallel with the GDI, where Egypt would welcome hosting the first of these events.
It is worth noting that the Chinese President launched the GDI in 2021, with the aim of redirecting global development towards a new stage of balance and comprehensive coordination to face global shocks, promoting more equitable and balanced global development partnerships and achieving more synergy through multilateral cooperation to accelerate the implementation of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The Egyptian government is keen to enhance South-South cooperation efforts and exchange experiences with emerging economies and developing countries. In this regard, the Ministry of International Cooperation has re-launched the South-South Cooperation Academy in cooperation with the United Nations Development Program. Numerous sessions and workshops were held to activate South-South cooperation mechanisms during the Egypt – International Cooperation Forum (Egypt-ICF), and also during a high-level session in cooperation with the NEPAD agency at the African Development Bank (AfDB) annual meetings, in which 50 heads of international institutions and development partners participated to discuss strengthening South-South cooperation.
The cooperation portfolio with China amounts to about $1.7 billion to implement many projects in various development sectors, including electricity, health, education, vocational training, and others.
Recently, the minister witnessed the completion of the assembly and testing of the Misr Sat 2 satellite, in cooperation with China, at the headquarters of the Egyptian Space Agency.
