Minister of Environment Yasmine Fouad met on Sunday with Jennifer Morgan — Undersecretary of the German Foreign Ministry and Special Commissioner for Environmental Policies — to discuss Egypt's preparations to host the upcoming Conference of Parties on Climate Change (COP 27). Fouad stressed that Egypt is keen during its presidency of the conference to build on the successes of the COP 26 that was held in Glasgow last year and push the process of delegations to achieve a balance between all tracks such as mitigation and adaptation, climate financing, losses, and damages, in addition to maintaining momentum towards the global goal of adaptation and the new collective goal of financing. The minister noted that the COP 27 — which will be held in Sharm El-Sheikh this November — is an implementation conference, both by working to ensure the implementation of the pledges made in Glasgow and also presenting experiences, success stories, and best practices around the world in addressing the effects of climate change. Additionally, Fouad drew attention to the role of the participation of all segments of society in accelerating the pace of climate action, starting with simple local communities such as housewives, farmers, and fishermen, up to politicians, decision-makers, technicians, economists, social workers, and the private sector by presenting different project models targeting different segments of society. For her part, Morgan affirmed Germany's keenness as G7 President to work with the Egyptian presidency of the COP 27 in supporting the climate action agenda and conducting a dialogue on the goal of adaptation and its initiatives, losses and damages, and climate financing in light of the commitments of countries. She also stressed her country's interest in the participation of non-government organisations in the climate conference. The two parties also discussed the importance of countries submitting their updated national contributions to support climate action, as the environment minister indicated that Egypt is currently working on finalising its strategy for national contributions to be announced during the coming period.
