Egypt's Minister of Environment Yasmine Fouad met on Saturday with representatives of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Cairo, to discuss the findings of the report issued by the organization and review the draft on assessing green growth policies in Egypt. The meeting was attended by Tariq Al-Arabi, CEO of the Waste Management Regulatory Authority; Raouf Saad, Advisor to the Minister for Multilateral Agreements; Mathilde Mesnard, Deputy Director of the Environment Department at the OECD (ENV); Nathalie Girouard, Head of the Environmental Performance and Information Division (ENV/EPI); Julia Wanjiru Nyekema, policy analyst; Insa Handschoch, economist, and other OECD representatives. During the meeting, Fouad highlighted Egypt's interest in strengthening its relations with African countries and countries of the region, since the African Ministers of Environment Conference held in Egypt and the Paris negotiations, where Egypt represented the voice of Africa. Egypt launched the African Adaptation Initiative and the African Renewable Energy Initiative to support the development agenda in Africa and implement Egypt's vision to achieve sustainable growth and enhance cooperation and integration among African countries. Fouad also pointed to the efforts made by Egypt to prioritize the environmental issue, integrate it within the development sectors, and change the discourse on the environment. Regarding climate change, Fouad explained Egypt's approach and implementation of many projects to adapt to and mitigate the negative effects of climate change, in cooperation with development partners and banks, and their impact on water and food security. Egypt has implemented many national projects to line canals and desalinate seawater and is also working to develop new crops that are resilient to climate change. On their part, the OECD officials expressed their satisfaction with the cooperation with the Ministry of Environment, and praised the Egyptian efforts in the environmental field and the green transition, hoping for productive discussions of the strategy and the draft that include suggestions and recommendations to be incorporated in the report.
