Full Text: Sisi Gives Speech at 'One Ocean' Summit in France

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi gave a speech Friday at the One Ocean Summit; announcing Egypt's adaption of the summit's Declaration due to be issued following the end of the Brest-based Summit.

The One Ocean Summit aims to mobilize the international community to take tangible action towards preserving and supporting a healthy and sustainable ocean.

Here is the full text of the speech: 

In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful

Your Excellency President Emmanuel Macron,

President of the French Republic,

Honorable Heads of State and Government,

I would like to extend my thanks to His Excellency President Emmanuel Macron for his invitation to this summit at this important time, in terms of international climate action and efforts to protect nature. These efforts reflect how important these issues have become and the tireless efforts made by our countries in this regard.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Seas and oceans cover about 70% of the surface of our planet, linking our peoples and cultures and contributing to international trade and navigation. Moreover, they are an important source of food and natural resources and a catalyst for economic activity and the prosperity of entire societies and countries.

We are well aware of this in Egypt. Our location on the Red and Mediterranean seas has contributed to the emergence of our great civilization and the building of our development since the dawn of history. This is in addition to Egypt’s Suez Canal, which has been and still contributing to advance international trade movement as one of the most important shipping corridors in the world.

Egypt has been keen from an early age to put in place legal frameworks regulating economic activities related to the seas and oceans to ensure the sustainability and preservation of marine resources. These legal frameworks also aim to prevent the seas from being exposed to pollution of all kinds. This includes plastic waste pollution, a real challenge facing developing countries that are seeking to have the support and technology needed to implement strategies on reducing the use of environmentally harmful plastic.

Egypt is also taking vigorous steps to transform into a renewable energy hub and is working on expanding the production of green hydrogen. These efforts represent a real opportunity to reduce the volume of emissions from the shipping sector. We will work, during the coming period, to put forward ideas and initiatives for consultation with development partners, with the aim of mobilizing more support for Egyptian efforts in this important area.

At the international level, Egypt, during its presidency of the UN Biopersity Conference (COP), worked to launch a path of negotiatings to reach new goals for the protection of nature, foremost of which is the protection of the seas and oceans. Egypt also participates, with keenness, in the ongoing consultations, under the United Nations Law of the Sea Convention (UNCLOS). The aim is to come up with a new legal instrument to protect biopersity in marine areas outside national jurisdiction.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Climate change remains the most difficult challenge facing us, with its negative effects on various aspects of life. The seas and oceans are also affected; the oceans have absorbed more than 90% of heat caused by global warming, at a rate that has been accelerating since the seventies of the last century. This contributed to the high level of acidity, low oxygen content, and the deterioration of marine life, in addition to the constant threat posed by the rise of sea levels, oceans, and coastal areas in many countries of the world.

Despite this, international efforts to overcome the negative effects of climate change on the seas and oceans are still not up to the hoped-for level. Therefore, Egypt, in its capacity as the next president of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, calls for intensifying international efforts aimed at the protection of our seas and oceans from these effects as well as the preservation of their sustainability and the persity of their marine life. On our part, we will work to ensure that the next session of the Conference witnesses constructive dialogue on this issue, one that relies on the leading practices and sciences available.

We hope that the session will garner ambitious results and initiatives that builds on the outcomes of the 3rd United Nations Ocean Conference, which will be hosted by Portugal in the middle of this year, to contribute to strengthening the efforts of our countries in mitigating the consequences of climate change on the seas and oceans and mobilizing funding needed by the developing countries, particularly the African ones, to carry out this effort.

Emphasizing our contribution to the international effort to protect the seas and oceans, I am pleased to announce that Egypt has joined the declaration to be issued at the One Ocean Summit under the title, “Protecting the Ocean: A Time for Action,” as well as to the two initiatives of the “Global Ocean Alliance” and the “High Ambition Coalition For Nature and People”. We look forward to working within the framework of these vital initiatives with all parties to ensure that they reach the desired results.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am confident that our summit today will give rise to positive results that reflect the commitment of our countries in achieving the goals of the “Paris Climate Accords” and protecting our planet’s the seas and oceans, for us and for future generations.

Thank you