As prepared for delivery 

It is an honor to welcome such an extraordinary gathering of leaders, innovators, and experts -  our national champion, Dr. Mohamed Farid, Chairman of the Financial Regulatory Authority; Dr. Tarek Seif, Executive Director of the Financial Services Institute; our distinguished experts from ISO, the IFRS Foundation, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), and GSG Impact; and nationally from the Egyptian Organization for Standardization and Quality (EOS) and representatives from ministries, financial institutions, corporates, and academia.

Together, we come with a shared purpose: to advance knowledge, foster collaboration, and shape the future of our financial ecosystem. 

Your strong presence today reflects Egypt’s growing commitment to strengthening sustainable finance and risk-management capabilities.

It is my pleasure to inaugurate the workshop on Sustainability Frameworks in Action, organized by UNDP as an implementing partner of the EU-led Sustainable Finance Advisory Hub (SFAH), in collaboration with (ISO), (IFRS), (GRI), and GSG Impact. We are glad that the EU Delegation in Egypt is with us here today.

In Egypt, this training initiative is implemented in strategic partnership with the Financial Services Institute (FSI), the capacity building arm for the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA).  

Allow me to underscore the strong and longstanding collaboration between UNDP and the FRA, which reflects our shared commitment to advancing sustainable development, responsible finance, and financial resilience in Egypt.

Our cooperation extends well beyond today’s workshop. It forms part of a broader, continuous set of capacity-development initiatives that UNDP supports with the FRA and national counterparts to advance sustainability disclosure, risk management, and market transparency. 

This workshop is part of the capacity-building pillar of the global Sustainability Disclosure and Management Hub (SDMH) under the EU’s SFAH. The SDMH helps countries strengthen sustainability disclosure and management—aligned with global standards but rooted in national realities. Capacity building is at the heart of this programme.

We began with a two-part online training on sustainability management and reporting—welcoming strong engagement and a 96% satisfaction rate—and today’s workshop builds directly on that foundation.

 As we all know, strong institutional and technical capacity is essential for effective sustainability reporting. Without it, adoption of disclosure standards becomes uneven, limiting consistency across markets and undermining the creation of a fair, transparent, and level playing field.

The 2030 Agenda and the 17 SDGs provide a global roadmap to address interlinked challenges—poverty, inequality, climate change, and governance. Yet progress remains uneven, and this calls for a transformational shift in how organizations make decisions and integrate sustainability into strategy, governance, and daily operations. Fragmented efforts are no longer enough.

The SDMH Programme directly supports this shift by connecting sustainability reporting with sustainability management—ensuring that disclosures lead to measurable, meaningful improvements in performance and impact.

Today’s workshop aims to equip you with practical tools and strategic insights to deepen your understanding of sustainability management and reporting, and how these contribute to the SDGs and to Egypt’s sustainable finance agenda.

With the depth of expertise in this room, and with the guidance of our distinguished speakers, I am confident that the knowledge shared today will be translated into tangible action—strengthening sustainability practices across your institutions and contributing to Egypt’s broader progress toward the 2030 Agenda.

Thank you, and I wish you all a productive session.