Egypt's Minister of Environment Yasmine Fouad met on Tuesday with the US Ambassador in Cairo Herro Mustafa Garg, and her delegation, to discuss how to strengthen the cooperation between the two countries in the areas of environment, climate, and biodiversity. Fouad highlighted the long-standing strategic relations between Egypt and the United States, particularly in the field of environment and climate. She expressed her hope to start a new phase of productive cooperation to tackle environmental issues and challenges, building on the cooperation that started more than 20 years ago in managing and reducing pollution. Fouad also shared her vision to implement more strategic climate change programs in collaboration with the United States, in line with the Egyptian state's priorities, and to help it access the funding available for mitigation and adaptation, with an emphasis on adaptation as a priority for Egypt. She further expressed her interest in finding promising opportunities for greater private sector engagement and the possibility of cooperation in implementing the program on agriculture and food security in partnership with the private sector and lowering the risks of its financing aspect to be a model that can be replicated and scaled up. The US ambassador praised the Egyptian approach to linking the fields of food security, water, and energy, and expressed her hope for a strong future partnership based on sharing visions to enhance cooperation in the field of climate and environment. The two sides also reviewed the latest developments in cooperation in implementing the Egyptian initiative to protect the Red Sea, which was announced during the COP27, in cooperation with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the United Nations Development Programme, and the World Coral Reef Fund to conserve our coral reefs, for which the government allocated American investments worth $15 million. They also discussed cooperation in the field of debt swaps for nature, with Fouad reaffirming Egypt's commitment to the Convention on Biological Diversity and the post-2020 framework for action. The criteria for establishing and selecting the beneficiaries of the Loss and Damage Fund were also discussed during the meeting, as Fouad explained that the countries most affected by climate change will be the primary beneficiaries of the fund.
