The Minister of Planning and Economic Development meets UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres

H.E. Dr. Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development; Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN), Mr. António Guterres; This was part of a delegation of ministers that included Dr. Yasmine Fouad, Minister of Environment, and Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of International Cooperation.
The meeting came on the sidelines of the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (COP-26) held in Glasgow, United Kingdom. The conference will continue until November 12. The meeting witnessed the presence of Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin, Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and United Nations Envoy for Sustainable Development, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa, and Mr. Selwin Charles Hart, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Climate Action.During the meeting, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Dr. Hala El-Said emphasized Egypt's efforts to integrate the climate change dimension into national plans and strategies, including the modernization of Egypt's Vision 2030, the launch of environmental sustainability standards.She noted that the ministry of planning & economic development is building government capacities to implement those standards.El-Said also referred to the launch of green government bonds, the efforts of The Sovereign fund of Egypt (TSFE) to invest in some green projects.El-Said also referred to Egypt’s joining to the "One Planet" initiative led by French President Emmanuel Macron to support the implementation of the Paris Agreement.The Minister also reviewed the features of the presidential initiative “Decent Life", which was approved by the United Nations as one of the best practices to accelerate the achievement of sustainable development goals.



For his part, the Secretary-General of the United Nations expressed his appreciation to Egypt and its leading role in various multilateral forums, praising, in particular, the Egyptian presidency of the Group of 77 and China during the 24th Conference of the Parties to the Convention in 2018. He also expressed his aspiration for Egypt to host the Conference of the Parties next year, stressing his support and the support of the United Nations Secretariat for Egypt during the process of preparing for the conference. The Secretary-General of the United Nations pointed to the difficulty of the negotiating task during the current Conference of the Parties, and his efforts to urge all countries to reach consensus and achieve the required balance between considerations of reducing emissions, adapting to climate change, and financing.António Guterres added that the text of the proposed draft resolution issued by the conference - in its current form - is still far from this required consensus and is more aligned with the positions of the developed countries.Dr. Yasmine Fouad, Minister of Environment, reviewed Egyptian efforts to confront climate change and the progress of negotiations on climate finance issues, stressing the importance of promoting ambition in adaptation, which is not reflected in the current COP draft decision language.Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of International Cooperation, pointed out that Egypt has a success story in the field of climate change, and the importance of defining frameworks with financing institutions, donors, stakeholders, and development partners to benefit from success stories and the best experiences in this field, to serve the interests of developing countries. Al-Mashat stressed the importance of linking official development aid with efforts to achieve sustainable development, as reports indicate that Egypt is using these resources to achieve adaptation and mitigation with climate changes, within a broader framework to achieve sustainable development goals.Ambassador/ Wael Abul-Magd, head of the Egyptian negotiating delegation, stressed that the Egyptian presidency of the upcoming Conference of Parties will spare no effort to enhance consensus between developing and developed countries during the upcoming Conference of Parties in Sharm El-Sheikh.Al-Mashat stressed the importance of linking official development aid with efforts to achieve sustainable development, as reports indicate that Egypt is using these resources to achieve adaptation and mitigation with climate changes, within a broader framework to achieve sustainable development goals, which is a pioneering experience for Egypt that can be shared with African countries.