Egypt's Minister of Environment Yasmine Fouad has affirmed that Egypt's Red Sea initiative on coral reefs comes as one of the fruits of the ministry's efforts to create a supportive climate and change the language of dialogue on preserving natural resources, in which natural reserves consider coral reefs focal points. This came during her opening speech at the first consultative workshop in Hurghada on Egypt's initiative for coral reefs in the Red Sea, in cooperation between the Ministry of Environment, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and the World Coral Reef Fund. The workshop aims to discuss the preparation and design phase of the program, develop a common understanding of the project's objectives with the stakeholders and secure their support for the project, discuss and confirm the geographical scope of the program. It also aims to study the environmental and socio-economic status and the influencing factors and causes of coral reef degradation, opportunities and challenges. Participants in the workshop discussed the importance of green investments, especially the promotion of micro-grants and blended finance, which provides broad support ranging from small solar power systems to larger wastewater treatment facilities and renewable energy resources. The minister pointed out that Egypt began its journey of sustainable management of natural resources years ago at the national level, looking at the best ways to manage natural reserves and involve local communities as part of the protection and conservation of resources. She also stressed the importance of the workshop in reaching real measures to move forward with the initiative. Moreover, the minister further announced the start of work on the green Hurghada project in cooperation with the Global Environment Facility, by starting the process of evaluating current policies and regulatory procedures, to be a repetition of our success story in transforming Sharm El-Sheikh into a green city.
