Why international cooperation needs a global reboot

In Egypt, a country determined to embrace a green and inclusive recovery, a global conversation about how to strengthen international cooperation in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic is about to take place.

 

 

Though the United Nations Development Programme has identified Egypt as a nation vulnerable to the impact of climate change, the country is preparing to seize the moment by ‘greening’ its economy and bringing the world together to show that sustainable development cannot happen without multilateralism.

 

 

For Egypt, the pandemic can and must have a silver lining. The need to affect an economic rebound will spark the international community into realising how post-pandemic recovery can be interlinked with sustainability. And, in Cairo, Egypt is positioning itself as the match that can ignite this much-needed post-pandemic spark.

 

 

This week, national, regional and international policymakers, development partners, and representatives of the private sector, civil society and think tanks will gather in the Egyptian capital to discuss sustainable economic reform at the first edition of the Egypt – International Cooperation Forum (Egypt-ICF), launched by the country’s Ministry of International Cooperation.

 

 

Speaking ahead of the two-day event, held on 8-9 September, Dr Rania Al-Mashat, Egypt’s Minister of International Cooperation, said that as governments around the world face growing pressure to design economic recovery plans to combat the pandemic, Egypt aims to turn the crisis into renewed momentum to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – the 17-point action plan that targets ending poverty, protecting the planet and improving the lives and prospects of people around the world, among other things.