Uzbekistan Strengthens Regional Cooperation within Framework of Middle East Green Initiative

On October 16, the first meeting of the Ministerial Council of the Middle East Green Initiative (MGI) was held in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia).

The Middle East Green Initiative (MGI) is a regional initiative launched by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) aimed at mitigating the impacts of climate change on the region. In order to achieve MGI's goals of planting 50 billion trees and restoring 200 million degraded areas throughout the region, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud announced the allocation of $2.5 billion to the KSA to support MGI projects.

As one of the founding countries of the Initiative, the delegation of Uzbekistan, headed by Minister of Ecology, Environmental Protection, and Climate Change Aziz Abdukhakimov, took part in a high-level meeting chaired by Minister of Environment, Water, and Agriculture of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, A. Al-Fadli.

The meeting was attended by environment ministers from 20 founding countries of the Initiative, including KSA, Qatar, UAE, Egypt, Bahrain, Oman, and others.

Minister Al Fadli noted that the problems of desertification and rapid land degradation are what unites the MGI countries and provide an opportunity to implement collective efforts to combat the consequences of these phenomena in a coordinated manner.

In his speech, A. Abdukhakimov stressed the strategic importance of MGI for Uzbekistan. The Minister shared the results of the restoration of the Aral Sea region, as well as the achievements of the national project "Yashil Makon" ("Green Space").

Uzbekistan's efforts in restoring green cover were noted by the Executive Board of the Initiative as "High" (according to the methodology for assessing the effectiveness of countries in greening).

The countries reviewed the results of the work of the executive committee, MGI, which developed fundamental documents governing operational processes as well as mechanisms for evaluating country projects to combat desertification and land degradation. The members of the Ministerial Council also approved the regulations on the work and management of the MGI Fund, including the candidate for the post of General Secretary of the MGI and a number of other key decisions to ensure the launch of the MGI implementation. 

Following the meeting, a joint ministerial communique was issued.