African Ministers of Local Development plan to hold a three-day conference in Cairo next Monday with the aim of exchanging experiences to face African challenges, review climate change and food security files.
The conference will be held under the auspices of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi with the participation of delegations of 55 African countries.
Egyptian Local Development Minister Hisham Amna announced on Saturday that Egypt will host the fourth regular session of the African Ministers of Local Development Conference on issues of public service, local governments, urban development, and decentralization.
He said the session will be attended by representatives of the United Nations Human Settlement Program (UN-Habitat), the World Food Program (WFP), the Pan-African Organization of United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLG) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.
A statement issued by the Egyptian Local Development Ministry said experts will meet in sub-committees on the first and second days of the conference to discuss and present their views regarding decentralization and local governments, public service and administration, human settlements, and urban development.
Amna said the second half of the ministerial meeting will be devoted to an interactive session that includes three main topics: The African local perspective on climate action within the framework of Egypt’s hosting of the UN Conference of Parties on Climate Change (COP27) in Sharm El-Sheikh this November, food security and value chains, and the Egyptian Decent Life Presidential Initiative as a model for African rural transformation.
“These issues constitute current challenges on the international scene, and the session aims to develop a vision for African countries to face these challenges and serve the people of the continent,” Amna stressed.
According to the Egyptian Minister, the work of the African Specialized Technical Committee of the African Union will also provide an opportunity to exchange expertise and experiences, and study some common challenges between Egyptian cities and their African counterparts, including facing population growth, solid waste and climate changes and how to confront them, in addition to facing the repercussions of the COVID-19 virus.
