Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, president-designate of COP27, co-chaired a ministerial meeting on climate pledges hosted by Copenhagen on Thursday.
Britain’s Minister of State at the Cabinet Office Alok Sharma, President of COP26, and Danish Minister of Climate, Energy and Utilities Dan Jorgensen also chaired the meeting.
It was attended by Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and several ministers and officials from the UNFCCC member states and civil society figures.
According to Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Hafez, Shoukry underlined the importance of the meeting to exchange views and experiences on aspects of implementing international climate action.
As president-designate of COP27, Shoukry explained that this could be done by implementing outcomes of the Paris climate agreement and fulfilling national pledges to reduce emissions, in addition to other pledges announced during the meeting in Glasgow last year.
Shoukry later met with the Danish Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, as part of his visit to Copenhagen, Hafez said.
He said Cairo is keen to advance relations with Denmark and bolster ties at the political, economic, cultural and parliamentary levels.
He expressed his aspiration to increase the rate of trade exchange between the two countries and open the way for increasing Egyptian exports to Denmark.
Shoukry further underscored Cairo’s interest in boosting Danish investments, promoting Denmark’s participation in Egyptian development plans, and increasing bilateral cooperation in a number of fields and sectors, topped by renewable energy, green economy, healthcare and pharmaceutical production.
Hafez said the meeting touched on Egypt’s preparations to host the COP27 United Nations Climate Change Conference in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh in November.
The FM welcomed the cooperation with Denmark among other international partners to make the conference a success.
Separately, Egypt’s ambassador to Belgium Badr Abdel Aty, head of the Human Rights Committee in the House of Representatives MP Tarek Radwan, the Committee’s Under-Secretary, MP Mohamed Abdelaziz held talks on Thursday with President of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives Eliane Tillieux.
An Egyptian statement said the meeting tackled means to bolster Egyptian-Belgian parliamentary ties, especially at the political, economic and commercial levels.
The officials also discussed various political issues, including human rights.
Egypt’s economic, social and political achievements were reviewed during the meeting, including boosting political participation.
