Egyptian ministers review preparations for COP27 at supreme committee meeting

CAIRO – 23 June 2022: Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli chaired on Thursday the meeting of the supreme committee concerned with hosting the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) in November in Sharm El-Sheikh city.

The meeting, attended by a large number of ministers and officials, reviewed preparations for hosting the conference, according to a statement by the Cabinet.

Madbouli affirmed the government's keenness to periodically follow up on preparations for the international conference with regard to organization and infrastructure work in Sharm El-Sheikh to ensure complete readiness to receive Egypt's guests participating in the event.

 

Minister of Civil Aviation Mohamed Manar reviewed the facilitations that the ministry will provide during the conference, including discounts on flight tickets and boosting the number of seats allocated for domestic flights with Sharm El-Sheikh.

Attending the meeting, UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for Egypt Mahmoud Mohieldin reviewed the national strategy for green and smart projects in Egyptian governorates, which are set to be introduced during the conference.

Ministers of environment, youth and sports, and finance also reviewed preparations and proposals for the conference.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry reviewed the outcome of his latest visit to the German city of Bonn in conjunction with the 56th session of the meetings of the UNFCCC Subsidiary Bodies on climate change.

 

Bonn climate meeting

During the Bonn meeting earlier this month, Shoukry, the COP27 president-designate, and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Patricia Espinosa Cantellano signed the Host Country Agreement for COP27.

During his presence in Bonn, Shoukry referred to Egypt’s keenness to put the African climate change concerns at the forefront of the topics the session will address.

Shoukry said that the African continent is the most affected party by the negative repercussions of climate change, despite it being the least contributor to emissions, noting in the same regard the difficulties the African countries still face in obtaining the climate finance needed to address these repercussions.

Egypt is also keen to achieve consensus among the various international climate action stakeholders, especially with regard to the issues of adapting to climate change, mitigating its negative repercussions, addressing losses and damages, and providing climate finance, Shoukry said.

He emphasized that that upcoming Egyptian presidency of the COP attaches great importance to the issue of implementing climate pledges and transforming them into a concrete reality, whether in terms of meeting the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) or implementing the commitments and pledges made by the various parties involved in climate action.