Launching of the World Urban Forum with broad international participation
The launch of the World Urban Forum with broad international participation
Under the slogan “It all starts locally: working together for sustainable cities and communities,” the twelfth session of the World Urban Forum highlights a fundamental truth: It is that building the future of our cities on sustainable foundations is an important strategy for addressing current climate challenges and everything that hinders sustainable development efforts.
For this importance, inprevious articleEarth Guards addressed Egypt’s preparation efforts for the opening of the twelfth session of the World Urban Forum, the first of which was launched the day before yesterday – Monday – with wide-ranging international participation in a session considered the most important sessions of the Forum since its founding in 2001. Because it is a session that comes after the adoption of the Future Charter last September, in addition to the international problems that the world faces today, which are the problems that the President of the Republic addressed in his speech at the opening of the forum, where he said: “This session comes at a critical time, as the world faces many crises and wars that have devastating repercussions and effects on cities, places of residence, and all aspects of life.”
The President of the Republic’s speech highlighted the importance of achieving a balance between smart urbanism and preserving the environmental resources around us. To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which is the approach upon which “Egypt Vision 2030” is based, which aims to achieve balanced and comprehensive urban development; For a decent life for all Egyptians, through developing infrastructure and improving the quality of services, taking into account environmental sustainability.
In the same context, the Prime Minister – Dr. Mostafa Madbouly – opened the urban exhibition accompanying the twelfth session of the World Urban Forum, which displays the latest innovations in the field of sustainable urban development, with the participation of 52 countries and 136 pavilions, and the Prime Minister inspected a number of them, such as the Saudi pavilion, which presented the remarkable progress in urban development in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the Azerbaijan pavilion, which focused on the country’s journey towards development. Sustainable urban areas, in addition to the United Nations pavilion, which highlighted the importance of providing adequate housing for all.
On the sidelines of the activities of the first day of the World Urban Forum in its twelfth session, Dr. Rania Al-Mashat – Minister of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation – held a bilateral discussion session with Mr. Niels Annen – Minister of State at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development – during the opening of the German pavilion participating in the forum, where they discussed ways to enhance cooperation between the two countries in the fields of urban development and renewable energy, especially the electricity transmission project within the energy axis of the program Novi, which is supported by Germany with financing of 54 million euros through the debt swap mechanism.
Al-Mashat reviewed the sustainability and financing framework for economic development that Egypt recently launched to achieve sustainable and comprehensive economic growth. This was before the session concluded with a reference to the integrated national strategy for financing development in Egypt, which aims to provide a comprehensive financing framework that supports private sector participation and promotes economic development.
Engineer Sherif El-Sherbiny – Minister of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities – also participated in the opening of the sessions of the World Urban Forum, and there he stressed in his speech the importance of this twelfth session of the forum in discussing pivotal issues related to the needs of citizens and achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The Minister of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities also pointed out the importance of the dialogue sessions organized by the forum; Because it focuses on important issues, such as women’s empowerment, the role of youth in urban development, and the importance of cooperation between local governments and the private sector. After this, El-Sherbiny explained that Egypt’s population policy takes into account all these issues, and seeks to provide a decent life for all citizens through new smart cities, which provide citizens with a sustainable living environment.
On the other hand, the speech of Dr. Maya Morsi – Minister of Social Solidarity – was affirmative in a dialogue session entitled: Strengthening partnerships through local measures; The need for women’s voices to be heard, and for them to be an essential component of decision-making at all levels.
The Minister of Social Solidarity also stressed the importance of this forum in pushing Egyptian efforts towards further achievements in the field of supportinginfrastructure, in order to achieve the goals of sustainable development. Dr. Maya Morsi also pointed out that these efforts only yield successes through effective cooperation between the government and society, such as local development organizers and relevant stakeholders.
This launch of the twelfth session of the World Urban Forum had a clear impact, and it is an Egyptian start in a global forum that will leave a good impact in the field of enhancing people’s lives, as Egypt works to raise the value of the Egyptian citizen more and more, while enhancing the participation of all segments of society, especially women as a basic partner in decision-making. Therefore, Earth Guards expect that the World Urban Forum will come out in the coming days with more pioneering ideas that will increase the rate of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
