Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi inaugurated on Wednesday, the Egypt International Cooperation Forum 2022 (Egypt-ICF 2022) and African Ministers of Finance, Economy and Environment Meeting for COP27, in the New Administrative Capital.
During the inauguration ceremony, the president stressed the growing concerns on the issue of climate change, which has become present in the world’s consciousness. “I can say that it is a priority on the sustainable development agenda,” he said.
“The forum confirms that efforts to adapt to the effects of climate change suffer from a lack of funding, despite the agreement that confronting change and its cost are much better than the cost of the change itself. We are talking about $800bn annually by 2050 needed to tackle climate change,” Al-Sisi added.
President Al-Sisi mentioned that Egypt was one of the first nations to develop a long-term strategic plan to achieve sustainable development by 2030, and the environmental dimension was an essential axis in all development sectors.
“A year and a half ago, we launched a summit of projects for this matter, which is a decent life.”
Egypt-ICF includes a number of main axes within the framework of mobilizing resources and financing for the climate change agenda and its repercussions, as well as reviewing the national efforts and measures taken in this regard.
The forum aims primarily to move from the stage of pledges to the implementation stage and transform financial commitments into real opportunities.
On the sidelines of the event, Al-Sisi received Odile Renaud-Basso, the President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), where the president stressed Egypt’s appreciation for the distinguished relations with the bank, especially in light of the important role it played during the past years as a partner in the success of the development process in Egypt.
The president also expressed aspiration to explore more areas of cooperation with the EBRD in light of the comprehensive and sustainable development process that is being implemented in the country at the economic and social levels, especially in the areas of clean energy, and support for the transition to a green economy, especially in light of the Egyptian presidency of the UN Climate Summit COP27, and in light of the global momentum that the issue of changes enjoys climatic.
For her part, the EBRD president stressed the bank’s pride in the strong cooperation relations with Egypt and its various financial institutions, and praised the success of Egyptian efforts to achieve economic reform, and then the European bank’s keenness to enhance cooperation with Egypt, especially with regard to financing projects green shift.
The meeting discussed ways to enhance cooperation with the EBRD, and work to increase its contribution to financing projects implemented in Egypt, in light of the adoption of the new strategy for cooperation between the two sides, especially with regard to new and renewable energy projects.
Nevertheless, the forum will also include holding a round table on promoting investable projects in Egypt in preparation for their presentation at the COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh next November, with the participation of African ministers of finance, economy and environment, as well as a group of senior officials, international personalities, development partners, international financial institutions, representatives of civil society and research centres.
