In 4th session of MoCA, Egypt stresses on importance of green recovery

 CAIRO - 9 July 2020: In her speech at the teleconference of the fourth session of the Ministerial on Climate Action (MoCA) that was held on July 7, Egyptian Minister of Environment Yasmine Fouad stressed on the importance of the green economy to mitigate and adapt to climate change amid the repercussions of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

“Cooperation and solidarity lie with all countries of the world now, more urgent than before [...] rethinking about the obligations towards developing countries and the responsibilities of developed countries and how to fulfill them is a must,” she said.

"Amid the COVID- 19 crisis, Egypt has included in, its economic program, plans for a green recovery," Fouad said, noting that the Ministry of Environment cooperated with the ministries of planning and finance to include green bonds within the mechanisms of economic recovery.

In February 2020, Egypt’s Minister of Finance Mohamed Ma’ait said that the ministry started its procedures to issue intergovernmental green bonds, to be the first country in the Middle East and North Africa to issue such “climate bonds.”

The MoCA meeting was co-chaired by the European Commission’s Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans, Canadian Minister for Environment and Climate Change Jonathan Wilkinson and China’s Minister for Ecology and Environment Huang Runqiu, according to a statement from the European Commission on July 7.