Egypt’s Minister of Environment Yasmine Fouad met on Tuesday with Yves Bazaiba — the Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) — to discuss bilateral cooperation and preparation for the UN Conference of Parties on Climate Change (COP 27).
Egypt is set to host the COP 27 in November in Sharm El-Sheikh. The conference’s agenda will be revealed in July.
The meeting came on the sidelines of Fouad’s participation in the second part of the fifth session of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-5.2) in Nairobi, Kenya, under the theme ‘Strengthening Actions for Nature to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.’
Fouad praised the depth of the historical relations between the two countries, expressing her welcome for the bilateral cooperation they share. She explained that with regard to the COP 27, there is a work agenda for all the meetings that take place to discuss decisions that can be taken out of these meetings to be discussed before the conference.
She also expressed Egypt’s readiness to consider any proposals submitted by the DRC regarding the conference to be submitted to the Higher Committee and the Prime Minister.
Furthermore, she submitted a proposal to work in parallel on holding bilateral side meetings for the technical teams of the two sides to discuss ways of cooperating together.
On her part, Bazaiba expressed her country’s readiness to support Egypt in its upcoming hosting of the COP 27, noting that the DRC is cooperating with the Egyptian side in the field of integrated water resources management.
Additionally, Fouad also met with Nigeria’s Minister of Environment, Sharon Ikeazor, to discuss cooperation between the two countries in several environmental fields, especially biodiversity and climate change.
Ikeazor affirmed her aspiration to cooperate with the Egyptian side in the areas of climate change and biological diversity, pointing out that there is a framework for action on climate change in Nigeria and that the carbon trading strategy is being finalised, as Nigeria wants to expand it, given its dependence on its natural resources.
Furthermore, Fouad met with the Finnish Deputy Minister of Environment to discuss Egypt’s joint presidency with Finland for the third track to implement the environmental dimension in the 2030 Agenda for Stockholm + 50 and Egypt’s preparations to host the COP 27.
