Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Mohamed Abdel Aty participated on Wednesday in a virtual meeting of the Leaders’ Committee of the International Water and Climate Coalition.
The meeting aimed to agree on an action plan for the coalition, set a methodology for implementation during the coming period, and define the role of leaders in raising awareness of the interdependence between water and climate.
Hungarian President Janusz Adir; Petteri Taalas, the Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and the Dutch High-Level Envoy for Water; and ministers and senior water officials from Morocco, Tajikistan, Togo, and Namibia participated in the meeting.
In a speech during the meeting, Abdel Aty stressed Egypt’s interest in the coalition and its keenness to present the priorities and challenges of the African continent in all international initiatives and to mobilise international support for the coalition during the Conference of Parties on Climate Change (COP 27) that Egypt will host this November in Sharm El-Sheikh.
He also stressed the importance of building on the results of the previous conference that was held in Glasgow, UK, referring to the statement issued by the COP 26, in which countries pledged to work together to advance the ambitious implementation of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement, achieve financial pledges, and make progress towards doubling funding for adaptation.
The minister further noted that Egypt has already implemented many projects in this field, such as beach protection projects that aim to adapt to the rise in sea-levels.
For his part, the Hungarian president stressed that Egypt possesses many tools to positively influence the water and climate file in its Arab and African surroundings, as the Arab region is one of the most affected regions by water scarcity and climate changes, and most African countries lack infrastructure that enable them to deal flexibly with climate change.
