The foreign ministry also lit up its headquarters with the word UNICEF75.

UNICEF, which is in charge of spreading awareness about protecting children’s rights, celebrates its anniversary on 11 December every year.

Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry voiced Egypt’s keenness to enhance cooperation with UNICEF to protect children’s rights.

“The organisation has a noble humanitarian message that we all have to support,” Shoukry said in a speech during a ceremony in Cairo sponsored by the ministry and UNICEF.

Egypt was one of the first member states to sign the Convention on the Rights of the Child and has since ratified all the optional protocols related to it. 

“UNICEF’s presence and longstanding cooperation in Egypt goes back to the early 1950s since then, we have worked closely with our line ministry partners and international and national civil society organizations as well as the corporate sector to deliver results for children – and always under national leadership,” Jeremy Hopkins, UNICEF Representative in Egypt, said during the ceremony.

Minister of Planning and Economic Development Hala El-Said, who attended the ceremony, hailed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and UNICEF for the fruitful cooperation with the Egyptian government to support children.

“Egypt places children in its heart, especially since the largest segment of its population is children and youth. In its 2030 strategy, Egypt focuses on human development and on reaching every child in Egypt and providing them with health care and education services,” El-Said said, according to a statement by the UNICEF.

The longstanding cooperation and partnership between Egypt and UNICEF is entering a new phase amid ongoing efforts to complete the UNICEF Egypt Country Programme Document (CPD) 2023-2027 as a regulatory framework for all the fund’s activities in the country.

In a meeting with Egypt’s Minister of International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat in October, Hopkins voiced aspiration to cooperate with Egyptian authorities to further support national efforts to protect children and empower girls and youth.

UNICEF is working with the Egyptian government to establish a strategic partnership framework from 2023 to 2027, which will focus on providing support to Upper Egypt, the most vulnerable segments of society, persons with disabilities, and youth and girls, Hopkins said.