Egyptian Minister of Planning and Economic Development Hala el-Saeed held talks on Monday with Secretary General of the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG Africa) Jean Pierre Mbassito probe bilateral co-operation in areas pertaining to sustainability of economic and urban development.
They also addressed developments of the “Decent life for Africa resilient to climate change” initiative, which was launched during The UN Conference on Climate Change (COP27) held in Sharm el-Sheikh in November, according to a ministry press release.
The meeting was attended by senior ministry officials, among them Mohamed Hegazi, Director of the UCLG North Africa Regional Office (NARO).
During the meeting, Minister Hala el-Saeed emphasised the organisation’s significant role in transferring Egypt’s expertise in the success of the Decent Life initiative to various African countries to help in the implementation of the “Decent life for Africa resilient to climate change” initiative, which aims to improve the quality of life in 30 per cent of the poorest and most vulnerable villages to climate change by 2030.
Egypt’s Decent Life was included on theSDG Good Practices platform of the UN platform for its outstanding commitment to the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), El Said noted.
For his part, the UCLG Africa Secretary General Jean Pierre Mbassi voiced hopes to benefit from the Egyptian initiative as a pioneer model to be applied in other African countries, coping with the goals of the Africa Agenda 2063.
Also on Monday, Minister Hala el-Saeed and Mbassi discussed arrangements of the 10th round of the Africities Summit in 2025 which Egypt is hosting in 2025.
The summit is held every three years in one of the five regions of Africa with the aim of promoting local governance and decentralisation in order to improve the living standards of African citizens.
UCLG Africa is the umbrella organisation and the united voice and representative of local governments in Africa. It was founded in 2005 in the City of Tshwane, South Africa as a result of the unification of three continental groups of local governments, namely the African Union of Local Authorities (AULA); the Union des Villes Africaines (UVA); and the Africa Chapter of the Unao dos Ciudadesy Capitaes Lusofono Africana, (UCCL AFRICA).
UCLG Africa now boasts a membership of 44 national associations of local governments from all regions of Africa, as well as 2000 cities that have more than 100,000 inhabitants. As such, the organisation represents nearly 350 million African citizens.Its headquarters are in the Rabat, Morocco, where it enjoys diplomatic status as a Pan-African International Organisation.
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