The political leadership attaches special importance to the population issue and exerts utmost effort to control its growth, affirmed Local Development Minister Mahmoud Shaarawi.
To bring the National Housing Strategy 2030 into action, the Local Development Ministry exerts strenuous efforts along with the ministries of health and population, social solidarity, youth and sports along with the other national institutions, added Shaarawi during his meeting on Wednesday with a delegation of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Egypt, led by Frederica Mayer, the UNFPA’s representative in Egypt, Germieen Haddad, UNFPA Assistant Representative and Dawlat Sharawy, the population expert and UNFPA advisor.
The meeting tackled the progress made so far in the “Accelerating the Local Response to Population Issues” project, which is implemented by the ministry in co-operation with the UNFPA and under the support of the European Union.
The ministry is keen on honing the skills of employees in the population issues project and activating the role of societal responsibility and analysing the population status, added Shaarawi during the meeting.
There is continued coordination between the ministry and the other ministries in this file, he went on to say.
Mayer, for her part, said that the population issue is closely related to the poverty rates and the living standard of the families.
She also underlined the importance of the units, which were formed in the population issues project, especially for the youths due to their ability to provide the necessary information and data.
Mayer reviewed the project which is currently being prepared by the UNFPA and is due to be implemented in 20 villages.
At the end of the meeting, an agreement was reached to continue coordination between the two sides in order to support the ministry’s efforts in the population cause file in order to cope with the programs and national initiatives which are being held under the sponsorship of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi.
