Egypt's Minister of Environment, Yasmine Fouad, held a meeting with representatives of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), via video conference, to discuss the draft report issued by the organization on evaluating green growth policies in Egypt. During the meeting, Fouad praised the efforts made in preparing the report by the work team from the organization and the Ministry of Environment, which crystallized in issuing a draft of the report, which paves the way for a final version that helps draw a road map for upcoming policies in light of the global challenges and the ambitions of countries to meet the needs and aspirations of their citizens. The Minister of Environment confirmed that she closely followed the stages of preparing the report, making sure to follow the same methodology and goals with partners, including various sectors, and identifying points that require further in-depth and review. She explained her interest in ensuring that the climate change aspect of the report is in line with the nationally determined contributions plan and the national climate change strategy, ensuring the accuracy of the data, and being consistent with the context of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement. Fouad pointed out the importance of paying attention to the role of local resources in climate financing, in light of the current dialogue about sources of financing and the disagreement between the countries of the North and South over them, and the challenge that developing countries face as a result of financing from the general budget to confront the effects of climate change, as they become trapped between fulfilling their climate obligations and achieving development goals, and its impact on state priorities such as health and education. The minister said that Egypt is financing from its own resources the building of nature-based solutions to confront the effects of climate change in 7 governorates, and has allocated EGP 7 billion to protect coastal areas from the effects of climate change and maintain a sustainable quality of life for local communities. She stressed the need to take into account the state's right to choose its paths to achieve green growth and priority sectors, and for the report's standards to be consistent with the national context and national laws, so that the report presents a policy document that provides the state with the best ways to move towards a green transformation.
