Stakeholder Engagement Through Economic Diplomacy: Egypt Fostering Multilateralism & International Cooperation

By Rania Al-Mashat and Randa Hamza

The global economy is currently at an unprecedented juncture. Within the development context, the year 2020 ushered in the Decade of Action for achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. The world has embarked on this ambitious declaration while combatting the perils and far-reaching implications of the Covid-19 global pandemic, which threatens progress across all 17 of the United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), whilst simultaneously placing greater urgency upon their realization. Furthermore, the pandemic has underscored the disproportionate distribution of inequities and vulnerabilities where the poorest and the most vulnerable populations, and the least developed, in-crisis and land-locked developing nations have been affected the most. Fragilities and constraints of resources – both monetary and non-monetary – have in turn highlighted the indisputable role of development cooperation for collective action. To attain this collective action, a process of creating, interpreting, and negotiating meaning to sustainable development is not merely necessary but imperative.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Jan 28, 2022
• ISBN: 9781665592291

Book preview

© 2021 Rania Al-Mashat with Randa Hamza. All rights reserved.

Subjects: Egypt | Ministry of International Cooperation |Official Development Assistance | Economic Diplomacy | Sustainable Development Goals | International Cooperation | Multilateralism |Multi-Stakeholder Platforms | Global Partnerships Narrative | Mapping ODA to SDGs | United Nations 2030 Agenda | Development Partners | Private Sector | OECD | GPEDC |G 20 Imminent Persons Group

On June 29, 2021, the book was launched from the London School of Economics and Political Science, highlighting Egypt’s novel country-led multi-stakeholder engagement framework. https://www.lse.ac.uk/africa/Events/Public-Events/Policy-Reform-Rania-Al-Mashat

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

AuthorHouse™ UK

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403 USA

www.authorhouse.co.uk

UK TFN: 0800 0148641 (Toll Free inside the UK)

UK Local: 02036 956322 ([phone] from outside the UK)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Cover Design: Brand Company

ISBN: 978-1-6655-9408-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6655-9229-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021925573

Published by AuthorHouse 03/18/2022

62210.png

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

List of abbreviations

THE PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMIC DIPLOMACY

Multi-Stakeholder Platforms

Mapping Official Development Assistance to UN Sustainable Development Goals

Global Partnerships Narrative

PRINCIPLE I: MULTI-STAKEHOLDER PLATFORMS

Global Partnerships for Effective Development Cooperation: Global Perspective & Egypt’s Progress

Country-Led Platforms

Launching Egypt’s Multi-Stakeholder Platforms for International Cooperation

Private Sector Engagement in Development

Looking Ahead

PRINCIPLE II: MAPPING OFFICIAL DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE TO UN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

Objective and Scope of Work

Methodology and Approach

Comparative Analysis by SDG

Mapping Egypt-IFC Private Sector Financing to SDGs

PRINCIPLE III: THE GLOBAL PARTNERSHIPS NARRATIVE

Models of Communication

Communications Framework for Effective Development

Agile Communication Model for Development Cooperation

CONCLUSION

Author’s Profile

Bibliography

Praise for "Stakeholder Engagement through Economic Diplomacy:

Egypt Fostering Multilateralism & International Cooperation"

Increasingly I think we have to see the big international challenges as ones that could only be solved by the coordination of multilateral efforts. This book is a useful tool that makes the complex geometry of international cooperation actually practical, effective, and efficient; presenting a very useful model for other countries to adopt and hopefully one that contributes to Egypt’s own development.

Baroness Minouche Shafik, Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science

This book is a timely and important step towards greater transparency and accountability about what government programs are delivering. It also helps build broad-based ownership for tough policy decisions that lie ahead during this very difficult time. This approach should be a template for other countries to adopt – because without such ownership, we know that economic reforms can fail.

Carmen M. Reinhart, Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank Group,

I expect that this pertinent new publication will prompt a much needed discussion on how we can better leverage international cooperation to achieve the sustainable development goals, both globally and nationally.

Achim Steiner, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme

I agree with the book’s testament that an institutional, transparent, and inclusive country-led framework is important to facilitate constructive dialogue among all stakeholders involved in development cooperation. I am happy that Egypt has taken the lead on this.

Munir Akram, President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council

The G20 has since the Eminent Persons Group Report was published tried to find suitable candidates for the country platform concept to be piloted. As it happens, largely through the creative thinking and doing of its current Minister of International Cooperation Dr Rania Al-Mashat, Egypt has developed its own version of the country, or what she calls, the multi-stakeholder, platform. This book discusses the conceptual framework behind this development experiment, how it has been implemented and how it relates to the overall sustainable development agenda. By better understanding the Egyptian experience we can further develop and demystify country platform concept – it shows that it is not about bureaucratic central planning, but rather vision-led coordination.

Erik Berglöf, Chief Economist of the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), and Former Deputy Secretary of the G20 Eminent Persons Group

This book’s documentation of Egypt’s vision to leverage vision to leverage development co-operation and the power of multilateralism for a more sustainable future could not come at a more important time. This book represents an excellent contribution to build back better and greener. A truly global recovery from the COVID crisis requires better alignment of public and private finance in support of the Sustainable Development Goals, and political leadership from all stakeholders is what will turn the key to make it happen.

Jorge Moreira da Silva, Director, OECD Development Co-operation Directorate

"What a great idea to link stakeholder engagement and economic diplomacy as a strategy for world leaders to respond to the needs of nations. This, undoubtedly, accelerates the path towards the SDGs, achieving the global 2030 Agenda"

Richard Attias, Executive Chairman of Richard Attias & Associates, Founder of The New York Forum and former Executive Producer of the Davos Forum

Foreword

Professor Klaus Schwab

The year 2020 has prompted a global call for reinvigorating multilateral engagement to harmonize divergent interests of all stakeholders through a shared commitment to policies and decisions. It has instigated the need to introduce functional modalities to help build a global economy that works for progress, people, and the planet. This can only be attained through stakeholder engagement that creates inclusive, agile, and effective global systems for building back better.

This book outlines and discusses a novel approach for creating a country-led multi-stakeholder engagement framework, which represents a key milestone to promote value-centric collaboration that fosters multilateralism and international cooperation. It presents a new country practice that redefines economic diplomacy by introducing three principles that operationalize theoretical concepts into practical and replicable modalities for implementation and showcases Egypt’s progress towards accelerating the 2030 agenda. This framework facilitates a constructive, inclusive, and transparent dialogue with all stakeholders to support the country’s socio-economic objectives, where achieving national goals contributes to the global agenda.

In many aspects, this book underpins the value of stakeholder capitalism and puts it into practice by emphasizing the role of stakeholder engagement through economic diplomacy by establishing partnerships that push shared long-term value creation. This approach leverages dividends gained so far and creates more comprehensive benefits that ensure inclusivity towards achieving the UN 2030 agenda.

Professor Klaus Schwab

Founder and Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum

2021

Acknowledgements

This book was prepared through the collective collaboration and efforts of all involved stakeholders. It is the outcome of more than twelve months of consultations and interactions between the Ministry of International Cooperation in Egypt and the technical teams of bilateral and multilateral development partners who dedicated time and effort to meet physically and virtually amidst the stringent circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic.

I acknowledge the efforts of the Ministry’s staff who organized and executed the Multi-Stakeholder Platforms, operationalizing the first principle of economic diplomacy. Inclusive dialogue between the government, development partners and other stakeholders was only made possible through collaboration with my colleagues, Ministers of the Egyptian Cabinet.

I also thank all development partners who assigned technical teams to coordinate with the Ministry on the ODA-SDG Mapping, discuss methodology, review results and exchange knowledge transparently and constructively. Appreciation is extended to our multilateral partners and international financial institutions, including but not limited to: the African Development Bank, the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, the Islamic Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank, the European Union, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the OPEC Fund for International Development, the United Nations Organizations and the World Bank Group. Equally, I appreciate the efforts of all bilateral development partners and their corresponding institutions including: Austria, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, South-Korea, Kuwait, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.

Special thanks go to Ms. Marwa Abdou, the Minister’s Advisor for private sector engagement, for her invaluable research assistance and significant contributions, particularly providing literature reviews in the different chapters, visual illustrations, as well as editorial support. She saved no effort in seeing this through.

I salute the hard work of the department of Strategic Planning and Monitoring at the Ministry, for collecting, verifying, consolidating and regularly updating data on all ODA projects in Egypt. This data has been the basis of our interaction with development partners during the multi-stakeholder platforms, the ODA-SDG mapping exercise and also in the third principle of economic diplomacy, the Global Partnerships Narrative.

Equally, I recognize the efforts of the communications team who collaborated with various development partners to highlight ODA successful initiatives and promoting them among constituencies nationally and internationally.

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

The Principles of Economic Diplomacy

The global economy is currently at an unprecedented juncture. Within the development context, the year 2020 ushered in the Decade of Action for achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. The world has embarked on this ambitious declaration while combating the perils and far-reaching implications of the Covid-19 global pandemic, which threatens progress across all 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), whilst simultaneously placing greater urgency upon their realization. Furthermore, the pandemic has underscored the disproportionate distribution of inequities and vulnerabilities where the poorest and the most vulnerable populations, and the least developed, in-crisis and land-locked developing nations have been affected the most. Fragilities and constraints of resources – both monetary and non-monetary – have in turn highlighted the indisputable role of international development cooperation for collective action. International cooperation serves as a mechanism of global economic integration and solidarity where international and national policymakers, economists and reformers join efforts to deliver sustainable results by identifying development needs, financing gaps and required collective actions. To attain this, a process of creating, interpreting, and negotiating meaning to sustainable development is not merely necessary but imperative.

Within this context, governments and policy makers utilize international cooperation as one of the effective tools of economic diplomacy. Theories of economic diplomacy emphasize the interconnection among economic, social and political interests and the active roles of different stakeholders, including: governments, development partners, civil society, and the private sector, all of which in turn demand innovative diplomatic tools and arrangements to activate these interests (Lee & Hocking, 2010). Economic diplomacy is the process through which countries tackle the outside world to maximize their national gain in all fields of activity, including trade, investments and other forms of economically beneficial exchanges where they enjoy comparative advantage.

Effective and impactful economic diplomacy functions at three levels: bilateral, regional and multilateral (Bergeijk, Okano-Heijmans, & Melissen, 2011), each of which is important (Rana, 2007). The proliferation of different actors in the international arena has introduced another vital component to economic diplomacy: the role of multiple stakeholders (Bayne & Woolcock, 2017). In turn, engaging these actors in characteristic diplomatic practices particularly on issues of mutual interest or concern and articulation and advocacy of their side’s respective interests (Pigman, 2005) is requisite to a country’s ability to navigate the more porous boundaries of today’s modern world. Bringing these dynamic groups to the table enables viable, innovative public-private partnerships (PPP) while also ensuring the harmonization of relevant structures. It allows these actors to play a participatory role in the diplomacy process and its potential outcomes.

In fact, the intersection of international development cooperation with economic diplomacy occurs in a multitude of ways. Conventionally, development financing aims to service national domestic interests, however, the changing political economy of development cooperation set against a backdrop of emerging market growth and influence has reinvigorated calls to anchor development cooperation within diplomatic objectives and instruments (Gulrajani, Mawdsley, & Roychoudhury, 2020).

Moreover, one important question at the core of economic diplomacy is how a country can increase its visibility on the global stage and amass political and economic influence. This is what academia terms country branding because it relates directly to how a specific nation or state shapes and leverages its narrative – i.e., culture, traditions, mandates, and circumstance -- to connect and build credibility, presence and attract the outside world through different modes and mediums of investment.¹

Against this background and given the global call for building back better, multilateral engagement of different stakeholders towards more resilient and sustainable development trajectory has been reinvigorated. This has, in turn, necessitated the design of an innovative, inclusive and agile modality towards multilateralism. In what follows, a novel approach of economic diplomacy that puts at its center a country-led multi-stakeholder engagement framework will be will be discussed.

Egypt’s Principles of Economic Diplomacy

In Egypt, the Ministry of International Cooperation (the Ministry) is the designated national entity that develops, strengthens and manages economic cooperation with other countries as well as international and regional organizations, including financial institutions and specialized UN agencies. The Ministry plays a critical role in facilitating cooperation between national entities as well as international bilateral and multilateral development partners to channel needed financial and technical resources to support the country’s economic, social and environmental development.

The Ministry realizes that sustainable development is only attainable through the collective integrated efforts of various national and international stakeholders. Indeed, the Ministry’s very mission is to work closely with bilateral and multilateral development partners to address complex and multi-dimensional development challenges. By crafting comprehensive strategies that seek the mobilization and optimal allocation of development resources, the Ministry supports the central pledge of the 2030 Agenda of leaving no one behind. To meet this inclusive mandate, the Ministry embraces a set of principles within its Economic Diplomacy Framework to govern its operations. Through this framework, the Ministry aims to push the frontiers of multilateralism and international cooperation by strengthening inclusive multilateral and bilateral engagement with development partners, governments, global policymakers, the private sector and civil society to achieve a circular economy and advance the SDGs².

Egypt’s Economic Diplomacy Framework aims to maximize socio-economic returns from international development financing; ensure the alignment of development interventions with national objectives as well as with the SDGs; and enhance the management of development cooperation for better implementation of development projects within Egypt. The framework consists of three principles.

The first principle is to institutionalize multi-stakeholder partnerships through platforms. Chapter 1 delves into how these platforms are leveraged such that all projects among development partners are streamlined and effectively coordinated to accelerate the pace of development for the achievement of the SDGs. The second principle entails mapping Official Development Assistance (ODA) to UN-SDGs for all projects with multilateral and bilateral development partners in order to identify Agenda 2030 alignments. Chapter 2 details the methodology and results from the Ministry’s first of its kind mapping exercise. The third and final principle is the Global Partnerships Narrative. Chapter 3 distills the narrative into People at the Core and Projects in Action and Purpose as the Driver (P&P&P). The Global Partnerships Narrative advances future collaboration efforts based on up-to-date, consistent and complete accounts between the government of Egypt and its multilateral and bilateral development partners. Cooperation connections and engagements are fostered through a communication framework that ensures coordination, builds consensus among divergent opinions and interests, and exchanges information and knowledge.

1. Multi-Stakeholder Platforms

The main objective of multi-stakeholder platforms is to strengthen partnerships for achieving value-centric results through regular interactive and participatory consultations with all development partners. The platforms ensure harmony and complementarity of development collaboration to maximize impact and achieve sustainability and provide an opportunity to capitalize on successes, learn from pitfalls, and harness the power of group interaction.

Moreover, they create a sustainable, transparent and inclusive country-led dialogue to facilitate constructive interaction among many development stakeholders including: government representatives, development partners, the private sector and civil society as well as research and think-tank participants. This scale of collaboration and discussions around particular thematic and sector strategies guides development efforts to align with national development objectives as well as the international overarching 2030 Development Agenda and SDGs.

The institutionalization of the platforms ensures systematic engagement and harmonization among development stakeholders, and guides future interventions towards more effective implementation and coordinated results. It mobilizes resources and aligns efforts towards a common goal, consistent with both the national and international development agendas. It emphasizes the country’s ownership of development objectives and allows non-traditional actors in the development field, such as the private sector, to support efforts to achieve the development agenda through bringing in innovative ideas and business tools. A key factor for the successful operation of the platforms is the ability to create necessary synergies that promote collaboration and avoid conflict among different participants.

2. Mapping Official Development Assistance to UN Sustainable Development Goals

The mapping of ODA projects to SDGs aims to support decision making by highlighting