Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi participated on Friday in a summit of heads of state at the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai. The President delivered Egypt’s keynote address at the world’s most prominent climate change event.
El Sisi congratulated the United Arab Emirates on assuming the presidency of COP 28, praising UAE’s well organisation, affirming full confidence in the capabilities of the UAE.
“Our conference today is being held, similar to the Sharm el-Sheikh conference last year, amidst serious political and international challenges, which are not less important than the repercussions of climate change. That requires us as political leaders responsible to their peoples, to work sincerely so that the conference would come up with ambitious results as well as acceleration of fulfilling previous pledges,” the President said.
El Sisi has made it clear that Egypt realizes, in light of its presidency of COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh and direct impacts of climate change on it, the necessity to boost collective and urgent action to deal with the challenge of climate change in a way that enhances “our ability to ensure development compatible with the environment”.
The President stressed the need to preserve our planet for future generations, calling for action in the face of severe climate impacts and disasters that exceed the ability of countries, especially developing ones.
“Our responsibility as leaders gathered today is to confirm a clear message that we are committed and even ambitious in our measures as well as implementation, in accordance with what we agreed upon in Paris,” he said.
The President has reiterated the importance to affirm principles of equity, just transition, and shared responsibilities.
“In Sharm el-Sheikh, we were keen to launch many paths that contribute to achieving our aspirations in this regard, most notably the establishment of a financing fund for developing countries to confront climate losses and damages, an action programme on a just transition, and an action programme to reduce emissions. We also paved the way towards reaching a global goal to adapt to climate change,” he said.
El Sisi expressed his appreciation to the gathering at COP28, citing accomplishments, whether related to discussions about just transition or activating an action programme to reducing emissions in the energy and transportation sectors.
He also lauded COP28 for reaching recommendations to activate financing arrangements for developing countries to counter climate losses and damage and to launch a financing fund in this regard.
“However, the success of these efforts depends on the availability of adequate funding, whether in terms of its tools and mechanisms, or its sources, size, and facilitating access to it. This leads us to the necessity of formulating a joint vision that includes recommendations, that have been agreed upon, on developing all elements of the system from financing institutions and policies to evaluation agencies and the private sector,” he explained.
“We believe that achieving these goals is possible if we work together in a spirit of cooperation and participation. Therefore, we call on the international community to take more ambitious steps at the Dubai conference, in addition to expanding the scope of community participation, while avoiding unilateral actions, which only take into account narrow interests,” he said, expressing his hope that there will be a strengthened international framework for developing cooperation, and directing needed financial and technical support to developing countries.
The President concluded his keynote address, reaffirming Egypt’s commitment to confronting the challenge of climate change, hoping that the world take action to save planet Earth for the future generations.
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