Al Mashat Meets Bahraini Sustainable Development Minister & CEO of Economic Development Board of Bahrain

See - Sada Elbalad

23-02-2025

Rana Atef
Dr. Rania A. Al-Mashat, Minister of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation, met with Noor bint Ali Al-Khalifa, Minister of Sustainable Development and CEO of the Economic Development Board of Bahrain, during the Egyptian-Bahraini Government Committee's activities for commercial, economic, scientific, and technological cooperation. The meeting focused on areas of joint cooperation in light of the priorities of both countries and enhancing joint efforts to achieve sustainable development.
Al-Mashat expressed gratitude to the Bahraini side for their warm welcome and hospitality during the committee's activities, emphasizing the importance of the joint committee's meetings between the two countries. The meetings resulted in exchanging views and consultations to strengthen the bilateral relations between the two countries in various fields, particularly in economic, commercial, scientific, and other areas.
The Minister of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation commended the historical relations between Egypt and Bahrain, and the mutual understanding between the two countries on all levels. Dr. Al-Mashat affirmed the Egyptian state's commitment, under the leadership of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, to developing cooperation with the Kingdom of Bahrain across all fields and elevating it to the level of strategic relations.
Minister Al-Mashat emphasized the importance of maintaining direct communication between the two sides through ministries and various agencies to reach agreements for joint economic work, open new horizons, and propose emerging fields that align with the rapid changes occurring globally, particularly in the economic and technical cooperation. This would increase trade exchange, reflecting the strength of the relations between the two countries.
Dr. Al-Mashat also praised Bahrain's role and membership in the Industrial Integration Partnership for sustainable economic development, which includes Egypt, the UAE, Jordan, and Morocco. Recently, Qatar and Turkey joined the partnership to strengthen the collective capacity of the countries in achieving regional industrial integration goals.
Minister Al-Mashat reviewed key aspects of Egypt's economic reform experience, including its financial and structural phases, with an ambitious and successful program for creating unprecedented infrastructure and urban development. She pointed to Egypt's accumulated expertise through the establishment of major national projects, including industrial and agricultural zones, modern urban communities, and new cities of the fourth generation.
Dr. Al-Mashat also mentioned the strong relationships with international financing institutions and the Ministry's readiness to enhance efforts to exchange expertise with Bahrain in international cooperation.
The Minister of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation also highlighted the role of the Ministry after the merger in the fields of planning and economic development, preparing long, medium, and short-term sustainable development plans, and ensuring the consistency of implementing sectoral strategies and plans with the national development strategy, the General State Budget Law, and related budget laws.
Dr. Al-Mashat mentioned participating in preparing program and performance plans, taking necessary actions to implement them, diversifying sources of funding for development plans and programs, and enhancing partnerships with the private sector, civil society, and development partners to promote financing for development. Additionally, she reiterated formulating the National Sustainable Development Strategy (Egypt Vision 2030) in coordination with ministries and relevant bodies.
Dr. Al-Mashat welcomed the cooperation and exchange of experiences with Bahrain in areas of sustainable development, preparing voluntary national reports on content and reporting processes, local voluntary reports with a focus on localizing sustainable development goals at the local level in planning. This is in addition to the planning and monitoring investment projects through an integrated electronic system. This includes economic and developmental policy formulation, central, sectoral, and regional-level planning, program and performance budgeting, the government performance monitoring system, improving public investment efficiency, and integrating environmental sustainability standards in development plans, alongside building capacities.