Environment Minister Yasmine Fouad had a meeting with South Korean Ambassador in Cairo Kim Yonghyon to discuss bilateral cooperation in the environment and climate domains.
The meeting was attended by Advisor to the Environment Minister for multilateral agreements ambassador Raouf Saad and a number of the ministry’s senior officials.
Fouad lauded the level of cooperation with the South Korean side, particularly in the field of solid waste management and capacity building on geographic information system for environmental planning and management in Egypt.
During the meeting, the minister appreciated the experience of cooperation with the Korean side in establishing solid waste recycling factories, hoping to complete cooperation in the next stage in transferring and localizing waste recycling technology, within the framework of Egypt’s keenness to support companies to develop solid waste management mechanisms.
Fouad underlined the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA)’s support to the Environment
Ministry in implementing the program entitled “Capacity Building on Geographic Information System for Environmental Planning and Management in Egypt” in line with Egypt’s keenness to expediate the digital transformation process.
Fouad lauded South Korea’s support for the green Suez Canal project, via providing it with experts and technology and promoting the green transformation in Egypt.
As for regional cooperation, the environment minister praised the Korean side’s interest in building on the outcomes of the African Summit to support the continent.
She added Egypt is always keen on supporting the African demands and boosting the continent’s capacity in light of Egypt’s presidency of the Council of African Ministers of the Environment that coincided with the launch of the Paris Agreement, which was a turning point in Egypt’s relationship with its African brothers, as Egypt assumed the task of unifying the African voice and raising the demands of the continent, the most affected by climate change.
She sai
d Egypt appreciates South Korea’s contribution to the Green Climate Fund with dlrs 300 million, as climate adaptation is a priority for the African continent to promote the ability of its population to adapt and be resilient to the effects of climate change.
The Green Climate Fund is considered one of the most important mechanisms that support financing adaptation efforts in light of the inability of African countries to access the resources required for climate adaptation, she further noted.
The two sides discussed the possibility of future cooperation in integrated waste management, particularly after the issuance of Egypt’s Waste Management Law.
Both sides could also cooperate in implementing Egypt’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) plan aiming at increasing the contribution of renewables to the energy mix to 42% by 2030.
Integrated waste management is a system for reducing, collecting, recycling and disposing of waste products generated by residential, institutional, commercial, and industrial
land uses. Waste can be liquid and solid, hazardous and non-hazardous.
Source: State Information Service Egypt
