Al-Mashat Participates in High-level Conference Aims to Deliver Paris Agreement, SDGs

Egypt's Minister of International Cooperation H.E. Dr. Rania A. Al-Mashat delivered the opening speech at the high-level conference organized by Germany and Peru in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on “Building the Economies of the Future: The Power of Investing in NDCs and LTS to Deliver the Paris Agreement and the SDGs”.

The conference aimed to discuss and demonstrate the opportunities offered by nationally determined contributions (NDCs) for implementing the Paris Climate Agreement, and the challenges and realistic experiences facing financing climate action. The conference also reviewed the Egyptian experience in debt swaps for development and climate action within the framework of the “NWFE” program.

The conference was attended by Mr. Jochen Flasbarth, State Secretary of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Albina Ruiz, Minister of the Environment of Peru, Mr. Achim Steiner, Administrator of the UNDP, representatives of the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates, and many representatives of governments and development partners.

In her address, Al-Mashat explained that climate changes and their negative effects are reflected in all aspects of economic development, and that the sudden shocks in global supply chains, which were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the geopolitical crisis in Ukraine, cast a shadow on the economic conditions, causing an increase in inflation rates in developing countries and various countries of the world.

She added that mitigating the effects and repercussions of climate change requires concerted efforts and the implementation of NDCs and long-term strategies to achieve the SDGs.

The Minister highlighted Egypt’s progress towards issuing and updating the NDCs, to pave the way towards developing national projects, platforms and sustainable initiatives, to move forward towards enhancing climate action, noting that the government presented the first update to the NDCs in July 2022, reflecting Egypt’s commitment to climate action and alignment between development and green transformation efforts and Egypt’s Vision 2030.

Then, in June 2023, Egypt issued a new update to those contributions, confirming the country’s endeavor to accelerate the pace of low-carbon development by moving the goal of increasing the percentage of renewable energy to 42% for the year 2030, instead of 2035.

This is in line with the political declaration issued by Egypt, the United States of America, and Germany at COP27.

Al-Mashat noted that in order to enhance long-term development strategies, Egypt issued the National Strategy for Climate Change 2050 in May 2022, and accordingly, a group of priority projects in the areas of mitigation and adaptation were selected, on the basis of which the national platform for the “NWFE” program, the nexus of water, food and energy was launched.

Moreover, Al-Mashat said that the “NWFE” program is the result of government efforts in issuing the National Strategy for Climate Change and NDCs, to confirm the state’s commitment to enhancing climate action through an innovative national platform that increases efforts to mobilize investments, innovative financing tools, and debt swaps for mitigation and adaptation projects.

She further mentioned that the joint efforts made with development partners to support the program and move forward towards implementing its projects, pointing to the close partnership between the government and the UNDP, within the framework of which a number of projects are being implemented, including the project to enhance adaptation to climate change in the Nile Delta, to reduce the risks of floods in coastal areas and sea level rise.

It is worth noting that within the framework of the political declaration issued between Egypt, the United States, and Germany during COP27, regarding support for the energy pillar in the “NWFE” program, Egypt updated the NDCs and announced them last June, which is a major step towards the efforts taken by the country in fulfilling its climate pledges. This also opens the door to further cooperation with development partners to provide development grants, debt swaps, and concessional development financing that stimulates private sector investments in energy pillar projects within the program.