Africa Ministerial Meeting

Overview

The forthcoming World Urban Forum in Cairo, Egypt, provides a strategic platform for addressing the critical challenges and opئportunities associated with rapid urbanization in Africa. The urban population in Africa is expected to double by 2050, reaching approximately 1.3 billion, sadly African cities face significant challenges such as infrastructure deficits, housing shortages, environmen tal degradation, and economic inequality. Sustainable urbanization and urban development present opportunities for economic growth, innovation, and improved living standards.

Objectives

The Africa Ministerial Roundtable will give the African Ministers an opportunity to reflect on the implementation of the New Urban Agenda and Agenda 2030. Therefore, the implementation and localization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is the target for African countries having the same urban challenges. Sharing experiences, best practices and lessons learned among African Countries in areas related to housing, utilities and urban development is the key objective of the discussion.
In this respect, the Government of the Arab Republic of Egypt will be organizing an African ministerial Roundtable, in cooperation with UN Habitat, on the margins of the Twelfth session of the World Urban Forum scheduled to take place in Cairo from 4-8 November 2024. The African Ministerial Roundtable will be held on November 5th (18:00 – 20:00). This meeting shall act an excellent opportunity to discuss strategies and frameworks for implementing sustainable urban development in Africa as well as reporting on the New Urban Agenda in Africa. The meeting will discuss and agree on the future steps in terms of collaborative approach to address urbanization challenges and leverage opportunities between the African cities including the implementation plan of the African Urban Forum outcomes.
The discussions and recommendations generated at this meeting will influence the global dialogue on urban resilience and sustainable development, ensuring that Africa's perspectives and priorities are aligned and well-represented. Such event will contribute to addressing the pressing urban challenges on the one hand, and reinforce the commitment to developing innovative, scalable solutions that are essential for Africa’s urban transformation on the other.

Framework of Discussion

1.    Egyptian Experience and Urban Development: Lessons Learned:

Sustainable Urbanization and urban upgrading: As the host of WUF 12 , Egypt is going to share its experiences in tackling specific urbanisation challenges, including informal settlements, unplanned urban growth, social housing financing models and infrastructure development. Moreover, the discussion will include the development of 38 new smart and resilient cities all over Egypt in the last ten years. These projects were developed and implemented to offer a comprehensive framework for sustainable urban development. Egypt is willing to open more channels of communication and cooperation among African countries which will help develop a collective approach to urban development.

Affordable Housing: The challenge of affordable housing is prevalent in many African cities. Based on a national staregy for affordable housing , Egypt has implemented various policies and programs, such as subsidized housing and community development projects, to address this issue. Egypt is of the view that collaborative efforts are crucial for finding scalable and sustainable solutions.

Digital Inclusion: Digital technologies can greatly enhance the efficiency and sustainability of urban services. Egypt has made notable progress in digitization, and believes that it is important to ensure that all citizens have access to digital opportunities and no one lefts behind.

2.    Collaborative approach with the previous and coming mega events

Reporting on the NUA for African countries: The Roundtable will provide an overview of the status of the New Urban Agenda and Agenda 2030 implementation in Africa, assessing the gaps and barriers in achieving sustainable urban development goals. It will provide an overview on the status update on the implementation of the New Urban Agenda across African countries, sharing best practices and lessons learned in reporting and monitoring progress, and identifying areas requiring additional support and collaboration.

Implementation of the African Urban Forum Outcome: The implementation plan of the African Urban Forum and future implementation and collaboration is also a target of the meeting. It will provide review of key outcomes and insights from the Africa Urban Forum will guide discussions on translating forum discussions into actionable policies and initiatives.

Expected Outcomes

• Actionable Recommendations: Develop a set of actionable recommendations for policymakers to enhance the implementation of the New Urban Agenda and Agenda 2030, and reporting including better experience sharing and capacity building mechanisms.
• Enhanced Reporting: Improve the mechanisms for reporting and monitoring the New Urban Agenda, ensuring more comprehensive and accurate data.
• Policy Implementation: The way forward in drafting the action plan that will translate the outcomes of the Africa Urban Forum into practical, implementable urban policies.

Participants

• Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
• African Ministers of Urban Development, and Housing.
• African Union Commission Representatives (STC8)
• UN-Habitat Regional Offices for Africa and Arab States.
• Representatives from institutions and centers for training and capacity building.

Proposed Program Overview

1.    Notes by Host Country – Egypt

• Urbanization and Infrastructure development
• Affordable Housing
• Digital Inclusion. Sustainable Urban Resilience for the Next Generation (SURGe),
• Just Transition Work Programme (JTWP)

2.    Reporting the New Urban Agenda in Africa

• Status update on the implementation of the New Urban Agenda across African countries.
• Sharing best practices and lessons learned in reporting and monitoring progress.
• Identifying areas requiring additional support and collaboration.