CAIRO - 30 June 2025: Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly called for urgent and concrete international steps to support developing nations in achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs), warning that mounting global challenges threaten the ability of many countries to meet the 2030 Agenda.
Speaking at the plenary session of the Fourth UN Conference on Financing for Development in Seville, Madbouly said that developing countries today face rising poverty rates, declining food security, a widening digital divide, mounting debt crises, and soaring financing costs.
"These issues require serious international engagement to prevent widespread instability that could endanger the global economy," he elaborated.
Madbouly highlighted Egypt’s own initiatives to align with UN recommendations, notably the launch of the NWFE (Nexus of Water, Food, and Energy) national platform in 2022, which aims to mobilize development finance and expand private sector participation in climate adaptation and mitigation projects. The program leverages innovative financing tools and investment guarantees.
He noted that Egypt had successfully negotiated over $900 million in debt swap agreements with partner countries, with a portion of the proceeds allocated to NWFE projects, helping accelerate private sector engagement. From 2020 to May 2025, Egypt attracted approximately $15.6 billion in concessional development finance to support the private sector, including $4 billion dedicated to NWFE initiatives.
The Prime Minister affirmed Egypt’s full readiness to take part in a proposed international platform for knowledge exchange and technical support, in line with UN Secretary-General recommendations.
Madbouly conveyed three key messages to the international community:
- Establish a roadmap to expand access to affordable finance for developing countries, alongside efforts to reform the global financial architecture and encourage donor countries to meet their commitments.
- Take practical steps to address the global debt burden, including the development of sustainable debt management mechanisms and tools to ease the pressures of rising sovereign debt in developing economies.
- Equip developing nations with the tools needed for sustainable development, through technical assistance, capacity-building, technology transfer, and broader use of artificial intelligence in development planning.
Madbouly concluded by reaffirming Egypt’s commitment to working collaboratively with global partners to support development efforts across the Global South, stressing that achieving sustainable development is a shared responsibility vital to global stability and prosperity.
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