CAIRO – Egypt has taken over over the presidency of the 20th session of the Ministerial Council for the Regional Organization for the Conservation of the Environment in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden (PERSGA).
Minister of Environment Yasmine Fouad on Thursday was handed over the presidency of PERSGA ministerial council from Djibouti in the Red Sea resort city of Hurghada, in the presence of environment ministers of PERSGA member states.
Fouad hailed naming Egypt as the president of the 20th PERSGA ministerial council session, following the country’s successful chairmanship of the 16th session of the council in 2015.
She praised the role of the council in boosting joint cooperation at the regional level among Arab member states of the PERSGA towards preserving the environment and biodiversity.
The council also contributes to reinforcing efforts of PERSGA to raise environmental awareness among all age categories, especially the youth and children, Fouad said.
The PERSGA seeks encouraging the private sector and civil society to take part in activities meant to preserve the marine environment of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, she added.
PERSGA is an intergovernmental organization governed by a council of ministers handling environmental affairs in each of the seven PERSGA member states which are: Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
PERSGA council meets every two years to approve technical and financial policies. The organization’s daily affairs are executed by a secretariat run by a team of professionals recruited from member countries and headed by the Secretary General.
The kingdom of Saudi Arabia hosts PERSGA Secretariat and its headquarters in Jeddah, since it was established in 1995.
PERSGA has devised systems of monitoring and evaluation to ensure the Organization is achieving its programme objectives laid out in the Strategic Action Plan, and to incorporate a system of transparency into project management.
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