Major General Mahmoud Sharawy, Minister of Local Development, will participate in the activities of the eleventh World Urban Forum (WUF11), organized by the United Nations Human Settlements Program “UN-Habitat” in Katowice District, Republic of Poland, from 26-30 June 2022 under the slogan “Transforming our Cities for a Better Urban Future”.

The World Urban Forum represents an important event during which the urban opportunities, developments and challenges witnessed by developing countries, especially the African continent, are reviewed.

The Minister of Local Development stressed the importance of Egyptian participation in the activities of the Urban Forum in its current session in Poland, especially in the context of Egypt hosting the forum’s twelfth session in 2024, noting that Egypt’s hosting of the next session represents the first time for the forum to be held in an African country in more than twenty years. .

Major General Mahmoud Shaarawy expressed his aspiration for an active Egyptian participation in the sessions and events of the World Urban Forum, which will include organizing several sessions in coordination with the Ministry of Housing and the Egyptian authorities and ministries, the most important of which is a session entitled “SDGs Localization on sub-national-level in the lagged regions within the Egyptian context: The Initiative "Decent Life" and Upper Egypt Local Development Program as an example”, which will be organized through the Ministry of Local Development in order to promote the Egyptian role in settling the sustainable development goals through its national development programs and present the Local Development Program in Upper Egypt and "Decent Life" as models for the best development practices on the international arena.

The Minister of Local Development explained that during the forum's activities, Egypt is scheduled to receive the flag of the next session from the Polish Prime Minister, noting that he will hold a series of bilateral meetings with a number of ministers in the Polish government, senior international and Arab figures participating in the forum and representatives of relevant international bodies and organizations, especially The World Bank and the United Nations Organization for Human Settlements.