Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, the president-designate of the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on climate change (COP27), received Alain-Richard Donwahi, the president of the 15th Session of the Conference of the Parties of the UNCCD (COP 15), in Cairo on Monday. Ambassador Ahmed Abou Zeid, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that during the meeting, Minister Shoukry congratulated Cote d'Ivoire on the successful hosting of COP15 last May. He welcomed the outcomes of COP15 represented in the "Abidjan appeal", which will be addressed during COP27 conference scheduled to be held in Egypt next November, taking into account the fact that desertification is one of the most severe repercussions of climate change. During the meeting, Donwahi expressed his keenness to coordinate with the Egyptian presidency of COP27 and organize joint events that contribute to achieving the common goals of the two international agreements, where the two sides discussed a number of proposals put forward in this regard. Shoukry reviewed the vision of the Egyptian presidency of COP27 to strengthen international climate action, especially with regard to climate change adaptation measures, mobilizing climate finance and turning climate pledges into concrete reality on the ground. He stressed the importance of coordination between the UN conventions on climate change, combating desertification and biodiversity. Later on Monday, Shoukry received the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini. Minister Shoukry stressed Egypt's continued support for the agency and its provision of basic and necessary services to Palestinian refugees, highlighting Egypt's ongoing efforts to sharpen international political and material support for it. During the meeting, Lazzarini stressed his keenness to coordinate with Egypt regarding the activities of the agency and ways to strengthen international support for it so that it can perform the tasks assigned to it in light of the current international political and economic challenges. The two sides exchanged visions and proposals on how to achieve this goal during the meetings of the Council of Arab foreign ministers scheduled to be held in Cairo on Tuesday and the upcoming UN General Assembly meetings. Shoukry stressed that Egypt will spare no effort to support the goals and activities of UNRWA, whether in the regional or international arena, where the issue of Palestinian refugees remains strongly present in the conscience of the international community until it is settled definitively and fairly within the framework of restoring the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people. Moreover, Shoukry met Assistant Secretary-General of the UN and Director of the UNDP Regional Office for the Arab states, Khalida Bouzar. The meeting comes within the framework of the two sides ' interest in discussing ways to strengthen cooperation between Egypt and the UNDP in the economic and development fields to support the Egyptian economy. The meeting witnessed an integrated review of the areas and priorities of cooperation existing between Egypt and the UNDP, especially after the adoption of the Executive Board of the programme, on 1 September, the document of cooperation with Egypt for the period from 2023 to 2027. The Foreign Minister praised the diversity of areas of cooperation with the programme and the support it provides for many projects being implemented in Egypt and in cooperation with a large number of Egyptian ministries.
