Badr Abdel Aty, Egypt's ambassador to the European Union (EU), met on Sunday with a delegation from the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), which has 79 members including 48 African, 16 Caribbean, and 15 Pacific states. The delegation included the assistant secretary general of the organization for environment and climate, and a number of ambassadors of the member states of the organization, including the ambassadors of Ghana, Barbados, and Lesotho. The meeting dealt with the substantive and logistical preparations undertaken by Egypt for its presidency of the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Climate Change (COP27) in Sharm El Sheik next November, as well as coordination between the Egyptian presidency and the OACPS. Abdel Aty reviewed the vision of the Egyptian presidency, especially with regard to priority issues, foremost the issues of adaptation, mitigation of negative emissions, addressing losses and damages, and mobilizing the necessary funding to address these issues. He also highlighted Egypt's efforts in terms of coordination with all countries, parties and stakeholders to ensure that the issue of climate change becomes a top priority for all parties in light of the challenges it poses to the entire world. Abdel Aty said that Egypt has updated its nationally determined contributions in the field of emission reductions and launched the National Climate Change Strategy (NCCS) 2050, in a manner that encourages all parties to continue to strengthen their efforts in the field of climate action to achieve the desired results. For their part, the ambassadors of the OACPS highlighted their reliance on the Egyptian presidency to advance the agenda of the African and developing countries during the Sharm El Sheik Summit, especially in relation to issues of finance, adaptation and technology transfer, in order to ensure assistance to these countries in facing the challenges of climate change, especially those countries that are most affected by this phenomenon. The Assistant Secretary-General of the OACPS said that they look forward to COP27 being an opportunity to implement all the commitments of the Glasgow Summit. She expressed the OACPS 's aspiration to strengthen cooperation with Egypt in the coming period in order to convey all the concerns and aspirations of OACPS member states and to be reflected in the outcomes of COP27.
