G20 Summit: Egypt’s PM Urges Stronger Global Cooperation to Tackle Climate, Food Security Development Challenges

Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, representing President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, called for intensified international cooperation to confront mounting global crises during the G20 Summit held in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Speaking at a session titled “Toward a Resilient World: The G20’s Contribution to Reducing Disaster Risks, Climate Change, a Just Energy Transition, and Food Systems,” Madbouly welcomed South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and the attending heads of state before outlining the scale of the challenges facing the international community.

Madbouly warned that the world is grappling with “overlapping and increasingly complex crises” that threaten decades of progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals. Geopolitical tensions, climate change, food insecurity, water scarcity, rising debt, and the spread of protectionist policies, he said, all demand urgent and coordinated global action rooted in solidarity and shared responsibility.

He underscored the pivotal role the G20 can play in shaping effective responses, noting that concessional financing, technology transfer, and capacity building are essential to supporting developing countries in strengthening climate resilience and achieving a just energy transition.

The Prime Minister highlighted Egypt’s leadership during its presidency of COP27, which advanced priority issues such as the just transition agenda, the role of multilateral development banks (MDBs) in climate financing, and the establishment of the Loss and Damage Fund.

Madbouly urged G20 members to enhance the ability of MDBs to provide affordable financing and non-debt instruments for developing countries. He also called on advanced economies to fulfill their commitments to climate finance and official development assistance.

On the food security, he described the worsening crisis as “one of the most urgent global challenges,” pointing to Egypt’s efforts—both domestically and internationally—to address vulnerabilities in food systems. He noted that Cairo hosted the third meeting of the G20 Food Security Working Group in September 2025, in coordination with South Africa’s G20 presidency, to promote stronger international cooperation and ease the burden on developing nations.

Madbouly concluded by emphasizing that the G20 holds a unique responsibility to drive progress in development financing, narrow the digital divide, and enable developing countries to adopt emerging technologies—including artificial intelligence—to better confront global challenges and accelerate progress toward the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.