Category: General

Egypt’s Public Treasury Department affiliated with the Ministry of Finance issued a silver coin of LE100 as a commemorative currency on the occasion of launching the Climate Summit [COP27] in Sharm El Sheikh.

The currency bears the logo of COP27 summit, and the name of the conference in both languages Arabic and English.

The currency is being sold inside the Ministry of Finance’s pavilion in the Green Zone in Sharm El Sheikh for LE750.

Egypt’s Post announced Monday, issuing a commemorative postage stamp with QR Code technology to document the COP 27 summit.

This comes within the framework of post participation in the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change COP27 in the 27th session hosted by Egypt in Sharm El-Sheikh during the period from 6 to November 18, with official attendance and participation from 197 countries.

Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli stated on Sunday in a press conference on the sidelines of COP 27 in Sharm El Sheikh that the Green Zone at the summit Egypt is hosting, has been extended on 12,000 square meters to accommodate the civil society.

Madbouli said that Egypt is keen on making room for everybody, and listening to all views and visions put forward by organizations, individuals, and civil society. He added that also the contribution of women and youth is highly prioritized.

Spokesman for the Foreign Ministry Ambassador Ahmed Abu Zeid said that the 27th Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC (COP27) in Sharm El Sheikh city brings together 62,000 participants, saying this figure is the largest number recorded in climate summits.

In statements to CBC channel on Monday, the spokesman said that the summit’s program covers all main issues in addition to the various events that will be organized during the summit’s 12-day proceedings, including conferences and roundtables.

He said that holding the summit in Egypt constitutes a political momentum and directs the world’s attention to important issues related to food and water security and the transition towards green hydrogen.

There is an international understanding of the importance of the issue of climate finance through different and innovative means for developing countries, the spokesman added.

Egypt officially took over the presidency of the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change on Sunday, which will be held until November 18, and is witnessing a wide international participation in the presence of more than 40,000 people representing around 197 countries.

Source: Egypt Today Magazine

Chair of the African Union (AU) and President of Senegal Macky Sall said Monday that Africa is experiencing the impact of climate change in a very tough way, as most adaptation projects on the continent are funded through loans.

The AU chair called, in his speech at the opening of COP 27 in Sharm El Sheikh, for other countries to bear the responsibility of their actions. He stressed that fulfilling the $100-billion pledge has never been more essential than now, given that all scientific evidence show that the impact of climate change is becoming more severe.

“Although Africa’s share in global warming is just 4 percent, the continent is quite adamant to reach the 0-emission goal,” Sall noted, showcasing the African project dubbed the Green Belt, which involves the reclamation of lands in 11 countries.

Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley raised very similar points saying, “countries of the North get loans for an interest of 1-4 percent, while countries of the South get loans for an interest of 14 percent. Where’s the funding [to developing nations].”

Mottley stressed, on that front, that “soft and preferential financing must be made available to developing countries.” She also highlighted that big industrial structures have many shortfalls that should be remedied when dealing with developing nations. In that context, she gave the example of electric cars, pointing out that not all countries are ready to introduce such vehicles.

The Barbados prime minister further questioned how oil and gas companies do not contribute 10 cents for each dollar they make to the Loss and Damage Fund, arguing they made billions of dollars over the past few months.

Similarly, Mottley called for amendments to the Bretton Woods Agreement, which is the base of the global currency exchange system, fundamentally relying on the U.S. dollar and gold.

On her side, Renowned Economist and Director of London School of Economics (LSE) Baroness Minouche Shafik asserted that international financing institutions must offer more soft loans to developing nations.

Shafik elaborated that the size of international funding has to be tripled to speed up green industrial transition. Speaking of the African continent, Shafik said, “Africa, which is rich in sunlight and wind, can, by some support and funding, achieve a leap.”

Source: Egypt Today Magazine

Environment Minister Yasmine Fouad said that Egypt, led by President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, will make the 27th Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC (COP27) in Sharm El Sheikh city a turning point in international climate efforts.

Fouad said the summit will back Egypt’s presence in the main international forums and strengthen its ties with key partners.

She further noted that Egypt was chosen to host the summit as per the UN system of regional rotation, adding it was the turn of an African nation to host the climate summit.

Choosing Egypt to host COP27 reflects the African countries’ trust in Egypt and its ability to address African issues and help reach agreements and solutions acceptable to all parties, particularly in light of the residual damage inflicted on Africa due to climate change.

In her interview with MENA, the environment minister underlined that Egypt, as the hosting country of the summit, is keen on addressing urgent issues in the African continent in particular and in developing countries in general, topped by climate adaptation and finance.

She added that Egypt also looks forward to building on the outcome of the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (COP26) after finalizing the Paris Climate Action Plan. The Paris Climate Action Plan aims at reducing the city’s carbon footprint in line with the Paris Agreement’s aspirational goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C. This Climate Action Plan lays the path for Paris to accelerate its emissions reduction efforts, aiming to be a carbon-neutral city by 2050.

Asked about Egypt’s economic and tourism gains from the 12-day summit, minister Fouad said the summit will bring together from 30,000 to 40,000 participants from 194 countries, including 90 presidents, leaders and kings, a matter that will direct the world’s attention to “Sharm El-Sheikh Climate Implementation Summit”.

Asked about the “Green Sharm El Sheikh”, aiming to turn Sharm El Sheikh into a model integrated and ecologically sustainable tourism city of national and international importance, the minister said that the sustainable transport system and roads were activated by depending on clean and environmentally friendly transport using electric vehicles.

She added that 200 stations for charging gas-powered and electric buses were installed in Sharm el Sheikh city.

She also stressed that through the climate summit (COP27), Egypt will urge major countries to implement their pledges at previous UN climate summits, in addition to the 2015 Paris Agreement, in which the signatories pledged to pump dlrs 100 billion annually to help developing and affected countries to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change.

Source: Egypt Today Magazine

UAE President Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan pledged Monday that his country, which will host COP 28 in 2023 in Dubai, will focus on implementation and prepare a report, which will be the first of its kind, on the progress rate of accomplishing the goals of Paris Agreement.

Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan underscored, in his speech at COP 27 opening session in Sharm El Sheikh, that the UAE is implementing a plan to generate 100 GW of renewable energy.

Nevertheless, the chief of state insisted that oil and gas are still indispensable, saying that oil and gas in the UAE are among the world’s least carbonized.

“We’re convening now in a perilous time as the world is enduring complex problems. On top of which is climate change,” the UAE president said, adding that he supports the call of the Egyptian president to end the Russia-Ukraine War, stressing that the world needs peace.

After delivering his speech in formal Arabic, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi addressed the world in Egyptian Arabic saying that the Russia-Ukraine War incurred tremendous economic pressure on developing countries.

The Egyptian president added that the crises those countries are sustaining, as a consequence, are beyond their ability to hold out, calling for a quick end of the war. Egypt’s chief of state even offered to do anything, implying mediation, to achieve that goal.

Source: Egypt Today Magazine

Zagazig Criminal Court sentenced university student Islam Mohamed to death over deliberately murdering his colleague, Salma Bahgat, in August in northern Egypt’s Sharkia governorate.

Egyptian Public Prosecution referred in August Mohamed to the criminal trial over killing his female colleague after he was charged with premeditated murder.

According to the prosecution, Mohamed stabbed Bahgat with the aim of killing her after she and her family refused his proposal due to his “strange thoughts, bad behavior, and after she stopped communicating with him”.

The prosecution said he threatened her and some of her family that he would kill her, noting that they ignored the threats.

Mohamed bought a knife and waited for Bahgat inside a building that he knew she would be in at the time of crime and stabbed her to death.

Within 48 hours, the prosecution has established its evidence against the defendant by listening to the testimony of 15 witnesses besides forensic reports and by checking the phones of the defendant, the victim, and her friend.

The prosecution said there is also a digital data indicating that Mohamed committed the crime.

The defendant also confessed the crime in details during the prosecution’s investigations and the specialized court.

Social media users have been in a state of shock since the crime took place few days ago, with Mohamed stabbing the victim many times, causing her to die instantly.

The suspect was immediately taken into custody by security in the area, as ambulances rushed Bahgat’s body to the morgue at Al-Ahrar Hospital.

The crime brought back to memory the murder of university student, Nayera Ashraf, in Al-Mansoura by her colleague who stabbed her several times for refusing his proposal.

Mohamed Adel, the murderer of Ashraf, has received a death sentence but the ruling was appealed. The Court of Cassation will take the final decision on Adel’s death sentence.

Source: Egypt Today Magazine

Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, President of the 27th Climate Conference, said that preparations for the COP 27 climate summit have taken place since the end of COP 26 in Glasgow.

In televised statement, Monday, Shoukry stressed that Egypt’s hosting of the summit is “an honor and responsibility”, given its interest and responsibility over the years towards climate change issues.

Shoukry added, that “organizing and hosting the COP summit in Egypt is a responsibility, as it affects the interests of every citizen worldwide, especially the developing countries.”

The FM described COP27 as the “the summit of implementation” in a practical and realistic way that has an impact with regard to mitigation and adaptation, such as the issue of financing.”

Shoukry explained that it was estimated to fundraise the amount of $100 billion, which is way less than the needed to face the climate challenges globally; however, the failure to fulfill this commitment over the past years, successively, destabilized a great deal of confidence that we can over come the climate change challenges.

Egypt’s Foreign Minister said that there are a number of national, regional and international initiatives that have been formulated dealing with issues related to climate change within the framework of food security, water security, dependence and expansion of new and renewable energy, and that all of It ‘has an impact on the challenge of climate change.’

“I call for the immunizing of the conference from any geopolitical influences so that no priority appears except the priority of protecting the planet from climate change, which has an impact on the lives of citizens”. Shoukry said.

Sunday, November 6, was 1st day of the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference [COP27] was inaugurated on Sunday in Sharm el Shiekh city, In the midst of a remarkable number of attendees from all over the world.

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al Sisi said that he is looking forward for the inauguration of the summit’s activities.

He added that “the current session of the Climate Summit comes at a very sensitive time, in which our world is exposed to existential threats and unprecedented challenges, affecting the very survival of our planet and our ability to live on it.”

“There is no doubt that these dangers and challenges require quick action by all countries to develop a road map to rescue, protect the world from the effects of climate change.” Sisi added.

During the first day, which included handing over the COP presidency from Alok Sharma, the president of Glasgow’s COP26, to Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry included speeches for Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Hoesung Lee, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Simon Stiell along with FM Shoukry and Sharma.

In his speech, Shoukry thanked all participants for their trust in Egypt, reflected in choosing it to host “the most important and largest international event.”

Shoukry began his speech by saying he is certain Egypt will receive all the support from the participants to achieve together our targets. For its part, Egypt will endeavor to facilitate the best conditions for all participants from governmental and non-governmental entities to contribute to the hoped outcome of COP27.

Source: Egypt Today Magazine

World leaders pose for a picture at the opening session of the COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh. The Climate Implementation Summit will be opened with a speech delivered by President Abdel Fattah El Sisi.

President Sisi is scheduled to open proceedings of the high-level segment for heads of state and government in Sharm El Sheikh today.

The summit will involve holding three high-level roundtable sessions for leaders on Tuesday.

As many as 110 leaders are attending the two-week summit. They join nearly 27,000 government representatives, about 14,000 observers, and more than 3,000 media representatives.

Spokesman for the Foreign Ministry Ambassador Ahmed Abu Zeid said that the 27th Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC (COP27) in Sharm El Sheikh city brings together 62,000 participants, saying this figure is the largest number recorded in climate summits.

In statements to CBC satellite channel on Monday, the spokesman said that the summit’s program covers all main issues in addition to the various events that will be organized during the summit’s 12-day proceedings, including conferences and roundtables.

Source: Egypt Today Magazine

The Egyptian and German governments signed two declarations of intent to cooperate in the field of green hydrogen and liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Minister of International Cooperation, Rania Al-Mashat, along with Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy, Mohamed Shaker, and Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Tarek El-Molla, signed a joint declaration of intent for cooperation in the field of green hydrogen between the Egyptian and German governments, with Robert Habeck, German Vice-Chancellor and Federal Minister for Climate Action and Economic Affairs, and State Secretary in the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Jochen Flasbarth.

Moreover, Al-Mashat, along with the Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy, witnessed the signing of a declaration of intent between the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources in Egypt and the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action in Germany to cooperate in the field of liquefied natural gas.

The declaration of intent was signed by the Egyptian side, Tarek El-Molla, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, by the German side, Robert Habeck, German Vice-Chancellor and Federal Minister for Climate Action and Economic Affairs.

In this regard, Minister of International Cooperation, Rania Al-Mashat, stressed the importance of the two declarations of intent related to cooperation in the fields of green hydrogen and liquefied gas, as the declaration of intent for cooperation in the field of green hydrogen aims to enhance cooperation in the field of green hydrogen and promote sustainable development, and to cooperate for achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement related to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Al-Mashat added that the declaration of intent for cooperation in the field of liquefied gas export also aims to enhance cooperation between the public and private sectors of both countries in the field of energy, especially liquefied natural gas.

The Minister pointed out that the production of green hydrogen is one of the most prominent topics that attract great attention worldwide as one of the fuels that have been decarbonized, and it will have a huge role in the global energy transformation, which is a necessity for developing Renewable energy, environmental protection and reduced carbon dioxide emissions.

She drew attention to the projects of the Egyptian national platform of the “NWFE” program, which had previously been coordinated with the Ministry of Environment and various development partners in this regard, in the context of preparations for the Cop-27 Climate Conference.

The NWFE Program, launched by the Egyptian Ministry of International Cooperation in July, is a mechanism to promote the implementation of green development projects in the vital sectors of water, food and energy by attracting foreign funds in this regard.

Habeck indicated the German side’s interest in supporting Egypt in placing its energy supplies on a new basis and accelerating the transition from fossil energies to environmentally friendly energies together, which contributes to advancing the global energy transition and building climate-neutral cross-border energy networks that rely primarily on green hydrogen.

“In the short term, the cooperation in the field of Egyptian liquefied natural gas will contribute to further diversifying the energy imports of the Federal Republic of Germany,” Habeck stated.

For his part, Flasbarth stated that the Arab Republic of Egypt is an important partner country for German development policy and provides excellent conditions for climate-friendly energy supplies in the future.

He also noted the importance of designing the new global green hydrogen economy in a way that also benefits emerging and developing countries.

Source: Egypt Today Magazine

The Ismailia Misdemeanors Court sentenced Abdullah Ahmed, the “Ismaili groom”, to one year in prison, and a fine of LE 2,000 for physically assaulting his wife by beating.

Ismailia security authorities on arrested Ahmed on October 10 after the wife filed a report accusing him of repeatedly assaulting her her.

The President of the National Council for Women, Maya Morsi, called on authorities to take legal measures against the perpetrator.

Unhappily ever after

The Ismailia bride was back to trending in social media after only eight months of her marriage.

The incident begins with the spread of a video of her on her wedding day on February, when her husband beat her at the hairdresser, and forced her to ride the wedding car on Sultan Hussein Street in Ismailia.

Police arrived at the place and they were taken to the Ismailia Police Station. The couple reconciled and returned to their wedding.

They then appeared in a video clip from inside their apartment, where the bride confirmed at the time that she was fine, and that what had happened was only a simple dispute.

After that, the husband went out to apologize to all the women of Egypt for what he had done with his wife, expressing respect and appreciation for the people of Ismailia and Egyptian women.

Source: Egypt Independent

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) could provide $83 million to an Emirati-Japanese consortium to part-fund their planned 500 megawatt wind farm in the Egyptian Ras Ghareb.

The financing is pending approval and would consist of a $75 million loan and interest rate swaps worth around $8 million, according to the IFC.

“The Project is a greenfield 500MW wind power project, Egypt’s largest wind farm, located 9km northwest of Ras Ghareb in the wind-rich Gulf of Suez region,” it elaborated.

The IFC added that the Project will be an Independent Power Producer, selling its generation to the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) under a 25-year Power Purchase Agreement.

Huadong PowerChina Engineering Corporation Ltd (HDEC), PowerChina International Group Limited (Power China Int’l) and HDEC Middle East Co DMCC (HDEC ME) together (Huadong PowerChina Consortium) will be the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contractor and Envision will be the turbine supplier.

According to the IFC, the construction is expected to begin in March 2023 and operations two and a half years later.

Earlier in November, Egypt and Saudi Arabia signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the implementation of a 10 gigawatt wind electric power project in Egypt.

The MoU was signed between Egypt’s New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA), the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company, and the Saudi ACWA Power Company.

It stipulates the desire of the three parties to implement a project to produce electricity from wind energy with a capacity of 10 gigawatts in Egypt, provided that the necessary lands are available to conduct the necessary measurements and technical studies for the project; in preparation for the discussion of the final project contracts.

The Egyptian Cabinet announced late October the intention of the Saudi company “ACWA Power” to implement a huge project to generate electricity from wind energy in Egypt.

In June, Saudi Company ACWA Power signed a contract with Egypt’s Ministry of Electricity to invest $1.5 billion in the construction of the second largest wind power plant in the Middle East.

This came as a part of the signing of 14 joint investment agreements between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, worth $7.7 billion, in the fields of energy, petroleum, food industries, information technology and cybersecurity.

Source: Egypt Today Magazine