Nairobi: Egypt's Minister of Environment, Dr. Yasmine Fouad, engaged in a bilateral meeting with Abdullah bin Ali Al-Amri, President of Oman's Environment Authority and future Chair of the UN Environment Assembly, to discuss potential cooperation in environmental matters. This dialogue occurred on the sidelines of the 20th African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN), hosted by Libya in Nairobi. The conference theme was "Four Decades of Environmental Action in Africa: Reflecting on the Past, Imagining the Future."

According to State Information Service Egypt, Dr. Fouad began the meeting by congratulating Al-Amri on his upcoming UNEA presidency, acknowledging his leadership and efforts to collaborate effectively with African nations. She underscored the ongoing cooperation between Egypt and Oman in environmental affairs, despite global challenges, and expressed gratitude for Oman's support within the Arab Ministerial Council for Environmental Affairs.

Dr. Fouad stressed the necessity of a unified Arab approach to environmental and climate issues, affirming Egypt's commitment to enhancing collaboration with Oman. She referenced Egypt's initiatives during its presidency of the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP14), particularly President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi's 2018 launch of a global initiative to integrate the Rio Conventions on climate change, biodiversity, and desertification, emphasizing the need for unified, practical solutions to these interrelated challenges.

Al-Amri congratulated Dr. Fouad on her new role as Executive Secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, recognizing her significant contributions to advancing Arab and international environmental efforts, and commended Egypt's successful hosting of COP27. He discussed Oman's innovative project to address desertification by reforming livestock grazing practices and expressed a desire to establish a joint working group with Egypt to share expertise in this domain.