Employment for Youth in Egypt (EYE): Providing a Reason to Stay Closing Event

It is a real pleasure to join you for this event where we mark the completion of the joint UN programme, Employment for Youth in Egypt, by ILO, UNDP and UNIDO with the Government of Egypt funded by the UN Trust Fund for Human Security.

With my remarks today I would like to highlight three key points.

First, to highlight the importance of the empowerment of young people in Egypt, as this programme has contributed to.

Empowerment of young people is at the heart of our new Cooperation Framework with the Government from 2023 to 2027 and an issue that we prioritize as the UN in Egypt, recognizing the potential of young people as critical sustainable development actors.

Young people are our future: we need to equip them with the right skills and provide an enabling environment for them to thrive.

Second, we need to take the migration-climate nexus seriously. We see this globally, and this programme has rightfully recognized it as well.

Climate change will have an impact on livelihoods and communities and can have significant repercussions on the movement of people, both within countries and across borders.

This is also the case in Egypt, and particularly the Delta. That is why we need to build on programmes such as this one and invest in the resilience of communities, providing opportunities to young people.

Third, I want to highlight the importance of partnership. A successful joint UN programme such as this one leverages the strengths and technical expertise of different UN agencies to come with a collective outcome that is more than the some of its parts.

I would like to recognize the efforts of ILO, UNDP and UNIDO here, and also the contributions of IOM.

And of course, it all starts and ends with our partnership with the Government, where the Ministry of Trade and Industry and MSMEDA have played an indispensable role.

I would like to thank each of the contributing partners and congratulate you with this achievement. And of course, I extend my appreciation to the Human Security Trust Fund, which started with a strong initial contribution from Japan, for making this possible.

As a UN system, we will continue to implement and engage in further governorates, in the Delta and beyond, leveraging the human security approach. We will build on the important work achieved here and carry it forward together, in partnership.

I thank you.