UN Resident Coordinator lauds recent legislative reforms to empower women in Egypt

CAIRO - 14 Septemebr 2020: United Nations Resident Coordinator in Egypt Elena Panova lauded the recent legislative reforms that have been carried out by Egypt to economically empower women.

Conveying a word on Tuesday at the launching ceremony of the UN report on human development in Egypt for the year 2021 in the New Administrative Capital, with President Abdel Fattah El Sisi attending, Panova said that the Egyptian government and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) launched the 12th edition of Egypt Human Development Report 2021 (EHDR).

Since 1994, human development reports have carry out a pivotal role in shaping the policy dialogues in Egypt, she noted.

The report is influential and exceptional for three main reasons; it represented a tremendous effort in depicting the development journey in Egypt in the past decade, Panova added.

This report was released after almost a decade, she said, citing the release of the last Egypt Human Development Report in 2010.

The report also referred to a long journey of political, economic, and social transformation in Egypt, which in turn was reflected in achieving the human development agenda over the past ten years, Panova added.

Speaking at the launching ceremony of Egypt Human Development Report (EHDR) for 2021, UN Resident Coordinator in Egypt Elena Panova said Egypt is one of the few countries in the world that submitted its third voluntary national review (VNR) of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda at High-Level Political Forum 2021 (HLPF 2021) in New York.

The report comes at a extremely critical moment, as the world countries, including Egypt, are suffering from the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic, Panova added.

This pandemic reversed decades of development gains, deepened many forms of inequality, destabilized the global economy and upended the lives of billions of citizens around the world, she further noted. The outbreak of coronavirus pandemic led to a deviation from achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), she said.

The UN country team in Egypt has effectively cooperated with the government to support many health, social and economic responses, she said.

Egypt was one of the few emerging market economies that saw positive growth rates in 2020 amid this pandemic, she added.

UN Resident Coordinator in Egypt Elena Panova said that the Egyptian government adopted "bold decisions" to launch the second economic structural reforms and renew its commitment to adopt further reform measures.

The report is a reference document for development planning in Egypt for all development partners, she said.

The UN system depends on promoting the development cooperation framework with Egypt over the next five years, she added.

This framework remain the most strategic tool for planning and implementing UN development activities in Egypt and at the regional level, Panova added.