FM Shoukry urges EU support to Egypt to ease impacts of global food crisis

CAIRO – 21 September 2022: Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry affirmed aspiration for the European Union’s support to Egypt to ease the negative impacts of food crisis, a statement by the ministry said.

Shoukry made the remarks in a meeting on Wednesday with High Representative of the European Union for Foreign and Security Policy Josep Borrell on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

Egypt has been impacted with the Russia-Ukraine war given that it used to rely on the two warring countries for 80 percent of its imported wheat.

In many occasions, Egyptian officials have highlighted the crisis impacts on the local economy, which is part of the world economy.

EU, a major partner for Egypt in numerous fields, allocated earlier this year 100 million euros in immediate relief to Egypt amid the global developments.

Shoukry and Borrell consulted on containing the global and food crises and reviewed Egypt’s capabilities to achieve strategic partnership with the EU in the field of energy.

This comes in light of Egypt’s position as a regional hub for the exchange, production, and distribution of energy, including liquified natural gas, green hydrogen, and power linkage, the statement said.

Shoukry reviewed with Borrell the regional and international issues, on top of which is the Ukraine crisis and the situation in Libya.

During the meeting, Shoukry highlight the priority that Egypt attaches to issues of climate adaptation and mitigation, stressing the efforts of the Egyptian presidency of the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP27) to ensure the achievement of the desired results.

He expressed his hope that the positive political will expressed by the various EU countries would be reflected at the level of technical negotiations during the conference in a way that enhances confidence between the various parties and leads to the success of the climate negotiations.

Egypt is preparing to host COP27 between 6 and 18 November and has been keen to build on the success of Glasgow summit (COP26) in a bid to turn climate pledges into actions.

The Egyptian presidency of COP27 will adopt a clear approach to implement the Paris Agreement at an accelerated pace by addressing the gaps and deficiencies in the global system dealing with climate change, Shoukry announce earlier in September.

During the International Cooperation Forum (ICF) 2022 in the Administrative Capital, Shoukry said COP27 will also enhance trust amongst all parties as each state implements the Paris Agreement.

The geopolitical crisis that has resulted from the Russian-Ukrainian conflict includes global soaring prices of energy, food, and interest rates, Shoukry said.

IFC was held by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of International Cooperation only a couple of months ahead of COP27 to connect the two conferences as Egypt believes that all institutions, including international financial institutions and multilateral development banks, must cooperate for successful climate action, he added.