Egyptian Finance Minister Mohamed Maait has said Cairo intended to announce initiatives to reduce the debts of developing and African countries.
Such an objective could be reached by reinforcing funding opportunities that motivate green transformation, reducing harmful emissions, relying on clean energy, and ensuring cooperation among giant funding institutions to find solutions to reduce the debts of emerging economies.
Leaders of the Group of 20 major economies expressed concern about the "deteriorating debt situation" facing some vulnerable middle-income countries, and called on all official and private creditors to respond swiftly to requests for debt management.
A draft of the G20 leaders declaration seen by Reuters includes far stronger language about debt issues and acknowledges that the problems extend far beyond just the poorest nations.
The draft stressed the importance of all official and private creditors participating in debt relief and shouldering a fair burden. But it did not mention China, which has been criticized by Western countries and international financial institutions for delaying debt restructuring efforts.
Maait met with his counterparts from Austria, the Netherlands, and Greece, and the Mexican and Indonesian deputy finance ministers, on the sidelines of the COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh.
He stated that most African countries are suffering from high public debts and high costs to get adequate funding amid the current challenging economic changes.
This highlights the role of multilateral development banks in providing adequate funding to developing and African countries to cope with climate change, the minister added.
Mohamed El-Taher, Chief Executive Officer at Saudi Egyptian Construction Co., affirmed the company’s keenness on implementing sustainability in all its projects, namely the Central project, which is worth 13 billion Egyptian pounds.
