Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait called on his African counterparts to adopt a unified African vision on issues of financing and climate change by holding a number of joint preparatory meetings in the coming period in preparation for Egypt’s hosting of the UN Conference of Parties on Climate Change (COP 27).
During his meeting with Vera Songwe — Undersecretary-General of the UN and Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa, Maait affirmed his keenness to enhance cooperation between the two sides in a way that helps in the successful hosting of the COP 27 that will be held in Sharm El-Sheikh this November, noting that a number of initiatives were discussed to be presented at the conference to achieve the aspirations of African countries in the field of providing the necessary funding sources for the phenomenon of climate change.
The finance minister also reviewed the negative effects of the coronavirus pandemic and the Russian-Ukrainian conflict on African economies, including the rise in oil prices and food commodities, especially wheat, stressing the importance of reaching mechanisms to protect African countries and economies from such global challenges, including discussing the establishment of joint hedge funds.
For her part, Songwe invited Maait to participate in the meetings of African finance ministers in Dakar next May as a step towards preparing for the meetings that Egypt will host during the coming period to unify the visions of African countries on financing and climate change issues.
Furthermore, the two sides discussed the project submitted by the Economic Commission for Africa to establish a liquidity and sustainability facility, which would contribute to alleviating the burdens of African countries borrowing from international financial markets.
Additionally, they discussed African preparations for the spring meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, where the importance of African coordination to defend the interests of the continent was emphasised.
