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The minister of local development, Major-general Mahmoud Sharawi emphasized the ministry's interest  in supporting the implementation of the 2030 population and development strategy, in the preparation of which all governmental and non-governmental actors were involved in solving the population issue.
It was mentioned in a statement issued by the ministry on the occasion of the world population day, 11 July 2020, Sharawi made it clear that it is necessary to improve population characteristics, raise citizens' awareness of reproductive health and the optimum number of children, as unjustified population growth is devouring  the development efforts of the state, depriving citizens of the sense of their benefits or raising  their economic and social status and getting out of the poverty circle.
The minister of local development stated that it was essential to continue to support improvements in population growth rates, characteristics and distribution, achieve social equity and fill development gaps despite the difficult conditions the country was experiencing as a result of the novel coronavirus. Affirming his  full support for the achievement of the objectives of the programme for accelerated local response to the population issue, which is supervised by the ministry and is being implemented in 10 governorates, namely Qalyabia, Giza, Fayoum, Bani Sweif , Menia , Suhag, Assiut, Quena, Luxor and Aswan. It is noteworthy that the programme aims to develop local cadres capable of managing the population programme at the local level in terms of participating in planning, coordinating and following up in a participatory and complementary manner with the other authorities and in coordination with the offices of the national population council in the governorates, and to support the role of young people in taking decisions to resolve the issue and to benefit from their ideas and initiatives in that regard.
The minister of local development is following the efforts of the population unit to complete the local dashboard and system, which will monitor and evaluate the performance of the provincial population programme and develop a specific and clear institutional framework to support partnership and work in complementarity with other stakeholders in resolving the issue.
General Mahmoud Sharawi stressed his full support for the continuation of the ministry's central population unit for its efforts to build up a population cadres up to the village level capable of identifying population needs, prioritizing problems and including them in the population conservation plan. He also periodically reported to the governors on keeping track of the population situation, monitoring problems and accelerate the  responding  to resolve them.
Sharawi also recommended continuing cooperation with the cabinet information centre to complete the information system, build the tablet and support the central mobilization and statistics agency  to provide information and ensure its quality and accuracy.
Sharawi confirmed on  the continuing efforts of the ministry of local development with international and national partners to play its role in this important file. The minister expressed appreciation for the support of the United Nations fund of population for the project being implemented within the ministry and for all local cadres  and governors to give this file the priority it deserves, in cooperation and coordination with the competent national authorities in the file , and to emphasize that the transmission of performance at governorate level will allow for dealing directly with the phenomenon, helping to resolve the population issue and addressing its negative impact on development.
In the same context, the ministry held an extensive  meeting last week with population units in the 10 governorates using remote communication technology using zoom, in the presence of a number of the leadership of the ministry, the population unit and the United Nations population fund. Approximately 38 participants from the governorate's population units, youth from the regional population council and the coordinator for community responsibility from the five previous governorates also participated. The meeting was marked by a review by the provinces of the implementation of the plan of action over the past months and a review of some of the challenges and drawbacks caused by the Corona virus crisis. 
Translated by : Hanaa Mohamed Saleh