Egypt's President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi met on Sunday with Ghada Wali, the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and the Executive Director-General of the United Nations' Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), according to a statement released by Presidential Spokesperson Bassam Rady. During the meeting, Al-Sisi stressed Egypt's support for the role of the United Nations in facing global and regional challenges related to combating crime, drugs, and terrorism, as well as strengthening existing efforts to exchange experiences in areas related to the UNODC's work. The president expressed his keenness to implement the organisation's programmes that tackle drugs and crime in an integrated manner and on a global scale. Wali "expressed her sincere appreciation to the president for his continuous support for the role of the organisation, noting her reliance on Egypt's continued support for her efforts during the coming period to enhance the organisation's role in maximising the capabilities of the international community." She noted that this support would contribute to addressing the threats posed by transnational organised crime, in addition to addressing corruption and its negative impact on communities, crime prevention efforts, and building effective criminal justice systems, according to Rady. During the meeting, Wali reviewed the activities on the agenda of the organisation, especially the follow-up to the results of the 'Sharm El-Sheikh Declaration' issued by the United Nations' Global Conference against Corruption in December 2021. She also thanked the Egyptian government for its fruitful cooperation with the UNODC to organise this global conference in light of the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that it represented a global milestone for improving international cooperation against corruption and helping the world recover honestly from the pandemic. Furthermore, the UN official also reviewed the axes of international cooperation under the umbrella of the UNODC in light of the recent regional developments in Afghanistan, especially with regard to arms smuggling, drug trafficking, the aggravation of terrorism, and the refugee crisis. Wali also discussed the ongoing preparations to organise an international conference in Egypt in 2022 — in cooperation with the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities — on combating antiquities smuggling as one of the sources of financing terrorism and organised crime.
