Egypt Ranks First Regionally for Sustainable Development Goals Assessment

According to a recent report by the United Nations ESCWA, titled the “Arab National Reporting Platforms for the Sustainable Development Goals: Assessment,” Egypt scored the highest implementation for the Sustainable Development Goals by 50%.

Minister of International Cooperation, H.E. Dr. Rania Al Mashat, congratulated Egypt’s performance on social media, stating, “Egypt’s commitment to drive meaningful progress continues in this decade of action to achieving the SDGs. We continue our efforts to progress towards the SDGs and telling our story through People&Projects&Purpose.”

#Egypt’s commitment to drive meaningful progress continues in this decade of action to achieving the #SDGs. Congratulations on pioneering in the Arab region, the National Reporting Platform developed by CAPMAS in collaboration with @UNICEF. We will build back better. pic.twitter.com/JLci0CQnef

— Rania A. Al Mashat (@RaniaAlMashat) October 26, 2020

Through data visualization, the report uses graphs, maps and dashboards to allow users to easily grasp the progress that was achieved for every Sustainable Development Goal, as well as for sectors and different groups in society.

The report revealed key sectors that achieved significant progress for the SDGs, such as agriculture, as there was an increase in the proportion of agricultural area under productive and sustainable agriculture, from 3.70 percent in 2013 to 3.80 percent in 2015.

There was also progress achieved in communications and technology, as the proportion of individuals using the Internet increased from 24.70 percent in 2014 to 29.20 percent in 2015.

The Ministry of International Cooperation conducted a comprehensive mapping exercise of all current effective projects to identify their alignment with relevant SDGs; this makes Egypt one of the few countries to conduct the mapping exercise, Al Mashat stated, with a cooperation portfolio that amounts to 25 billion dollars.

Through the ministry of international cooperation, there are currently over 300 projects with various development partners across multiple sectors including in education, transportation, water desalination, renewable energy, entrepreneurship, women empowerment, among others that are in line with the United Nations’ 17 SDGs, as according to the ministry data.

This year, Egypt ranked as the 83rd position in the Sustainable Development Report 2020, moving up nine spots. It recently won a 2020 Sustainability Awards granted by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for its efforts in ‘Sustainable Energy’ and ‘Gender and Inclusion’.