During her first official visit to Egypt since assuming her role as ESCWA Executive Secretary Rania Al-Mashat participated in the opening plenary session of the 32nd Annual Conference of the Economic Research Forum (ERF) and held high-level discussions with Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly on advancing regional cooperation and sustainable development.
During her meeting with Madbouly, Al-Mashat discussed ways to strengthen cooperation between Egypt and ESCWA, and build on successful models of regional integration, with a focus on priority development areas and their role in promoting growth and shared prosperity across the region.
Speaking at the ERF plenary session, titled "The War and the Region: Economic Damage, Policy Choices, and the Risk of Scarring", Al-Mashat emphasized that the challenges facing the Arab region were deeply structural and required collective responses. She stressed that regional cooperation was essential to addressing shared vulnerabilities and unlocking opportunities that individual countries could not achieve alone, particularly in areas such as energy, water, transport, and trade connectivity. Al-Mashat highlighted that the intersection of national priorities and regional opportunities created new possibilities for development, underscoring the multiplier effects of economic cooperation.
