President El-Sisi Participates in MEF via Video Conference

Yesterday, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi participated via video conference in the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate (MEF), upon an invitation from US President Joe Biden and the participation of a number of heads of state and government and the UN secretary-general.

The Spokesman for the Presidency, Counselor Ahmed Fahmy, said MEF, established in 2009, aims to support climate change issues and mobilize the necessary international momentum for that. President El-Sisi participates in the forum for the second year in a row as a keynote speaker, in light of Egypt’s presidency of COP27 held in Sharm El-Sheikh, and based on the role that Egypt plays in this field at the international, regional and national levels.

Following is the President’s speech:

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

Your Excellency President Joe Biden,
President of the United States of America,

Your Excellencies, Heads of State and Government,

At the outset, I would like to extend gratitude to His Excellency, President Joseph Biden, for his invitation to this summit, the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate Change. This summit’s agenda reflects a number of elements included in Sharm El-Sheikh Implementation Plan, which was adopted at the World Climate Summit, Cop27, in Egypt. It aimed at achieving the required balance, between raising ambition and achieving implementation, while demanding the adoption of concrete measures, primarily expanding the proportion of renewable energy, and accelerating the pace of reducing methane emissions.

In this context, I stress the importance of the availability of the means of implementation, particularly through the fulfilment of the developed countries’ commitments. This is because the success of the international community in confronting climate change depends, to a large extent, on providing appropriate and sufficient financing to support the implementation of programs and projects to reduce emissions and adaptation. This shall take into consideration the repercussions of the international financial situation on developing countries and the serious handling of the issue of losses and damages resulting from climate change. The Egyptian Chairmanship of Cop27 takes pride on coming up with a decision, for the first time, in this regard and hopes to achieve the desired progress in this respect before the next summit, including the establishment and financing of a special fund for losses and damages, thus enhancing confidence between the parties to the climate change agreement.

Ladies and gentlemen,
Let me share with you some of our efforts, at the national level, that align with the areas introduced in this forum:

First: With regard to the expansion of renewable energy, the government is in the process of finalizing the required procedures to ensure the provision of the necessary financing to allow achieving Egypt’s goal of reaching 42% of renewable energy sources by 2030.

Second: Egypt seeks to expedite the implementation of Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) related to hydrogen production in order to become a hub for the production of clean energy and reduce the carbon footprint of the energy-intensive industry sector.

Third: We are implementing several ambitious transport projects that are compatible with the environment. We have completed the first phase of the light electric train and projects for sustainable transport are about to be completed in major cities. Moreover, the network of EV charging stations are being expanded to encourage shifting toward the use of electric vehicles.

Fourth: The government is implementing projects to improve energy efficiency in various sectors and government buildings to reduce the carbon footprint of those sectors.

Fifth: The Egyptian House of Representatives, this month, gave its approval for Egypt to join the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, and the government is developing a plan for the gradual reduction of hydrofluorocarbon in both production and consumption.

Sixth: Egypt joined the methane pledge in the petroleum and gas sector. The Ministry of Petroleum prepared a list of projects and an action plan to reduce methane emissions. Consultations with partners are held to discuss financing them.

Ladies and gentlemen,
Given the climate challenges facing the international community, Egypt considers it necessary to build on the current momentum to address the existential challenge associated with climate change. It hopes that our next summit, in the United Arab Emirates, would be a successful summit by all accounts. This shall help achieving the goal of maintaining our planet’s average temperature, as stated in the Paris Agreement, and working toward attaining the goal of one and a half degrees, which contributes to accelerating the required economic and development transformation, allows the mobilization of financial and technical support, and promotes innovation to achieve the desired goals.

In this context, Egypt looks forward to joining the Forest and Climate Initiative, launched on the sidelines of the Sharm El-Sheikh Conference, as well as the Carbon Management Challenge, to be launched at COP28. This is, in addition to participating in the development of the international financial institutions in order to contribute to the achievement of the three objectives set out in the Sharm El-Sheikh Plan of Implementation. Those are to increase the amount of funding available to developing countries, facilitate access to financing and adopt concessional financing instruments that are compatible with the conditions of developing countries, while preserving those institutions’ main goal of eradicating poverty and achieving sustainable development.

Egypt also agrees with the need to accelerate the transition to emission neutrality in a number of sectors, including the maritime transport sector, as well as the energy sector, both by expanding renewable energy and shifting toward zero-emission fuels, such as hydrogen.

In conclusion, I would like to reaffirm Egypt’s commitment, as Chair of the current session of the Summit on Climate Change and as an active State in climate change negotiations, to advance an ambitious and balanced agenda based on the implementation of scientific recommendations and the promotion of the just, appropriate and expeditious implementation of commitments on the ground.

Thank you.