The Ministry of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation participated in the event organized by UN Women in Egypt, “Adopting Women’s Empowerment Principles for a More Sustainable and Inclusive Private Sector.”
The National Council for Women, the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones, the Korea International Cooperation Agency, and representatives from Canada also participated.
In this context, Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation, explained that women’s empowerment is a major axis of cooperation with multilateral development partners.
She added that many programs are being implemented that directly achieve women’s empowerment goals and include it as a sub-goal in many projects in various development fields, including water, agricultural and rural development, and others.
Al-Mashat further stressed that the government pays great attention to efforts to empower women economically and socially, given their main role as participants in efforts to achieve development and drive comprehensive and sustainable growth.
The Ministry, in cooperation with the National Council for Women and the World Economic Forum, launched the “Closing the Gender Gap Accelerator” in July 2020. This accelerator is a national model for cooperation between the public and private sectors in the field of women’s empowerment.
It enables governments and companies to take decisive measures to bridge the economic gender gaps and increase women’s participation in the workforce, as Egypt is the first country in Africa and the Middle East to launch the Closing the Gender Gap Accelerator.
During the event, the Ministry reviewed the objectives of the Gender Gap Accelerator, which works to enhance women’s economic empowerment through an action plan consisting of 10 main axes to address all gaps in the private sector and change the obstacles women face in their daily working lives, thus providing them with a healthy work environment, noting that these axes are in line with the Women’s Empowerment Principles of UN Women and the UN Global Compact.
The Ministry’s keenness to advance national priorities was also addressed by building effective development partnerships with all multilateral development partners and the private sector in a way that achieves comprehensive and sustainable economic development while committing to empowering and supporting Egyptian women in various fields.
It is worth noting that the participation of the Ministry of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation in the event came within the framework of the Egyptian government’s efforts in the field of women’s empowerment, as one of the most important strategic priorities of an overlapping nature within Egypt’s Vision 2030 and many sectoral and national development strategies that regulate joint development cooperation between Egypt and development partners and multilaterals such as the strategic framework for the partnership between Egypt and the United Nations for collaboration for sustainable development for the period 2023-2027.
