‏PM addresses World Cities Day in Luxor with focus on climate change

Egypt’s ‏Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli invited the world’s attention on Sunday to the work Egypt did in the past years to preserve the monuments and the heritage of the ancient southern city of Luxor.

‏Addressing a huge congregation of international dignitaries, including United Nations officials and a large number of foreign diplomats, on the occasion of the World Cities Day celebration in the city, the prime minister added that Luxor’s heritage and antiquities are an asset to humanity.

‏He described the city as the ‘cradle’ of civilisation and history.

‏”Let us witness together how Egypt has preserved, through the generations, this world heritage,” the prime minister said.

‏Luxor was selected by the United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN HABITAT) to be the venue of the World Cities Day celebration this year.

‏The event promotes the international community’s interest in global urbanisation.

‏The selection of Luxor to be the venue of the celebration came hard on the heels of the selection of Egypt’s New Urban Communities Authority for the United Nations-Habitat Scroll of Honour award for 2021 in the field of sustainable urbanisation.

‏The World Cities Day celebration started in Luxor on Friday and wrapped up on Sunday, with the speech of the prime minister representing the focal point of the event.

‏Prime Minister Madbouli said President Abdel Fattah El Sisi would participate in the United Nations conference on climate change in Glasgow, the UK.

‏”Let us agree that cities are responsible for most of the phenomenon of climate change, despite the progress they have made,” the prime minister said.

‏He added that climate change has opened the door for a long list of changes around the world, including an increase in the intensity of floods, droughts and violent storms.

‏Cities, he said, are responsible for 70 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions.

‏He said this was the main reason why the World Cities Day celebration in Luxor this year adopted the slogan ‘Cities Adapting to Climate Change and Resilience to this Change’.

‏He underscored the importance of the celebration as a platform for open discussions among city officials, mayors, governors, the private sector, and the international community on how to support cities in achieving the global commitment to creating a carbon neutral world.

‏”All this makes it necessary for us to work together to stimulate the sustainability and resilience of cities,” the prime minister said.

‏He added that this could be done through the expansion of green buildings and open green spaces and increasing investments in renewable energies.

‏This should also be done, he added, by including the principles of healthy lifestyles in the planning and designs of cities.

‏He noted that these principles depend on non-motorised transportation and environmentally friendly mass transit systems.

‏Egypt, he said, places urban development at the forefront of its development agenda.

‏He added that there is an entire chapter on sustainable urban development in the national development strategy, widely known as ‘Egypt Vision 2030’.

‏”The strategy is fully in line with the Sustainable Development Goals,” the prime minister said.