Egypt's Minister of Planning and Economic Development Hala El-Said and Environment Minister Yasmine Fouad, held a meeting to follow up on the preparations for Egypt's hosting of COP27, in the presence of the working team formed by the two ministries in this regard. During the meeting, El-Said stressed the importance of coordination and cooperation between all ministries to prepare for COP27 and the need to take advantage of the event to express what has been achieved in the Egyptian state in recent years. She explained that the Ministry of Planning was able to connect the projects in the investment plan to be green projects by close to 40% of the total projects of the plan, and aims to increase this percentage in the next fiscal year. The Minister of Planning also reviewed the ministry's vision for implementing the "Solutions Day", one of the thematic days, which the ministry will organize during the COP27, for entrepreneurs with ideas and projects that aim to improve the environmental situation. El-Said also clarified that the ministry will actively participate in a number of other COP27 days with a set of events and initiatives, for example; participating in a session on the financing day on the Union of African Sovereign Funds, which was announced in Morocco last week with the participation of the Egyptian Sovereign Fund. The ministry will also participate in several activities on the "Science Day" as well as on the "Youth Day" with initiatives such as Green Minds and Climate Ambassadors.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Environment praised the constructive cooperation between the two ministries in many files, including working to integrate environmental sustainability and climate change issues into the local and national planning process and various economic policies, in addition to stimulating the private sector to accelerate the transition to green and others. Fouad referred to the plan and procedures that were recently approved by the Supreme Committee concerned with preparing for the climate conference, and how each ministry will work, explaining that it was agreed to determine the "solution day" within the unofficial days of the conference. The two sides reviewed the procedures and activities to be carried out by the Ministry of Planning on the solution day, and the bodies that can provide technical support in this regard. They also reviewed the green projects carried out in cooperation between the two ministries, and the measures that have been taken. Fouad explained that during the "Solutions Day" a session will be devoted to waste, during which a global initiative for decreasing waste by 50% by 2050 will be presented. The initiative will be launched during the COP27, and aims to raise the recycling rate to 50% of African waste by 2050. The two sides agreed to prepare a working paper with the procedures and activities to be carried out by the Ministry of Planning and how to manage the "Solution Day".
