Egypt’s Minister of International Cooperation and the President of the National Council for Women honored the team working on the film “I Raised My Eyes to Heaven” after it won the Golden Eye Award for Best Documentary Film at the Cannes Film Festival.
Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of International Cooperation, participated in launching the “Empowerment” program in partnership with the National Council for Women, the United Nations, the European Union, and the embassies of Italy and Spain, which aims to enhance the institutional and individual capacities of women and girls and raise awareness about issues related to women’s empowerment and protection services provided by the state.
The “Tamkeen” program will target young women and teenage girls, women of reproductive age, women and girls most in need, women in the informal economy, and women and girls with disabilities. Its implementation period is three years.
The launch ceremony was attended by Dr. Maya Morsi, President of the National Council for Women, Ambassador Christian Berger, Head of the European Union Delegation to Egypt, Ambassador Amr Ayouish, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs and Head of the National Office for the Implementation of the Partnership Agreement between Egypt and the European Union, and Ambassador Michele Coraone, the Italian Ambassador to Egypt. , Ambassador Albaro Erantho, Ambassador of Spain to Egypt, and officials from UN Women and UNICEF, and Elena Panova, Resident Coordinator of the United Nations in Egypt, also participated in a speech via video.
In her speech, Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of International Cooperation, explained that empowering women is a major axis of cooperation with multilateral and bilateral development partners, as many programs are being implemented that directly achieve the goals of women’s empowerment, in addition to including it as a sub-goal in many projects. In various development fields such as water, agricultural, rural development, and others.
She pointed out that the “Tamkeen” project is a model of constructive cooperation and the government’s multilateral approach with international partners to promote sustainable development goals.
She appreciated the efforts made by all partners in implementing the project and their diversity in various fields, thanking the United Nations and its various agencies, the European Union, and the embassies of Spain and Italy for the continuous cooperation and coordination to achieve progress in priority areas in a way that enhances the country’s vision and development agenda.
The Minister of International Cooperation stressed that state ownership governs economic relations and development cooperation relations with multilateral and bilateral development partners and that three main factors link various strategies with international partners: digitization, green transformation, and inclusion for all groups.
She stated that over the past years, the European Union has worked closely with national partners, especially with the National Council for Women, to support many pioneering national initiatives, such as the National Family Development Project, the Tahwisha Program for Financial Inclusion, Hayya Karima, the National Identity Initiative, and many others. This critical approach aligned with the national strategy for empowering Egyptian women.
She referred to the report launched by the Ministry of International Cooperation on Egypt’s partnership within the framework of the Team Europe initiative, “A Joint Development Vision for Progress and Prosperity,” which lists the details of the partnership with various European countries and the European Union over the past four years.
Al-Mashat also pointed out that the United Nations has been a major supporter of the government over the years in achieving sustainable development goals, especially the fifth goal, “Achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls,” which has been included as a main axis in the strategic framework for cooperation between Egypt and the United Nations for sustainable development 2023-2027.
At the end of the event, Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of International Cooperation, was keen to have Dr. Maya Morsi, President of the National Council for Women, participate in honoring the team working on the documentary film “I Raised My Eyes to Heaven” after it achieved a historic achievement by winning the Golden Eye Award for Best Documentary Film in the seventy-seventh session and for the Cannes International Film Festival, becoming the first Egyptian film to win this prestigious award in the festival’s history.
