Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry will travel to New York on Sunday to participate in a high-level segment of the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly, which will begin on 19 September.
In a statement, Ambassador Ahmed Abu Zeid, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, pointed out that the UN General Assembly is being held this year in special international circumstances under the title “A Watershed Moment: Transformative Solutions to Interrelated Challenges”.
This comes in light of the challenges faced by the current international scene from various and interrelated issues such as climate change, the global food and energy crisis, the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, as well as the aspiration to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and others.
It is expected that Egypt will play an important role during this session in addressing all these issues and challenges, especially as it is chairing the 27th Conference of the Parties to the convention on climate change (COP27).
Abu Zeid said that the Foreign Minister’s agenda includes participation in a number of important meetings and events, in addition to bilateral meetings with his counterparts from foreign ministers and international officials.
Minister Shoukry will participate in the Munich ministerial meeting to discuss ways to advance the Middle East peace process, the meeting of foreign ministers of the conference on interaction and confidence-building measures in Asia, and a ministerial meeting on “water for food security” chaired by the Dutch minister of foreign trade.
Shoukry also will participate in ministerial meetings on regional issues in which Egypt plays a leading role, such as the ministerial working breakfast, which includes the Gulf Cooperation Council, Jordan, Iraq and Yemen, the ministerial meeting of the AHLC Assistance Coordination Committee for the Palestinian people, the ministerial meeting to support UNRWA, the five-year mini-Committee on Yemen, as well as the ministerial meeting of the forum of ancient civilizations chaired by the minister of foreign affairs of Iraq.
Abu Zeid revealed that Minister Shoukry will participate in a number of other important meetings, such as the high-level meeting on “food security” in cooperation with the European Council and the African Union(Au), the round table on “regional stability and cooperation in the Middle East”, and the high-level dialogue chaired by the Chinese Foreign Minister on the “Global Development Initiative”
He will also participate in a number of meetings aimed at promoting South-South dialogue and cooperation mechanisms, such as the ministerial meeting of the group of 77 and China on food and fuel crises, the meeting of foreign ministers of Non-Aligned Countries, as well as the ministerial meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
The Foreign Minister is expected to participate in a number of high-level meetings and summits held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, such as the meeting on protection and social justice under the auspices of the UN secretary-general, the meeting on the commemoration of the International Day for the total elimination of nuclear weapons, another meeting on the successful transition in UN peacekeeping operations, in addition to a high-level meeting on climate change.
Abu Zeid explained that the Foreign Minister’s agenda will include many bilateral meetings with a number of foreign ministers, heads of government and delegations participating in the work of the General Assembly،
In these meetings, Shoukry will review the Egyptian positions on many current regional and international issues, as well as the ongoing preparations to host the Conference of the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on climate change(COP27).
He will also brief officials from other countries on the course of the development process that Egypt is witnessing in all economic, political and social aspects, and secure the support of international development and economic institutions and Egypt’s economic partners for the process of economic transformation and development that Egypt is currently witnessing.
