EGYPT’s multi-faceted preparations for hosting the world climate summit in Sharm el-Sheikh early in November are drawing close to completion, reflecting the country’s resolve to enable the global event to emerge as a milestone in international climate action, particularly at this stage when climate change is making its adverse effects most severely felt in almost all regions of the world. The inspection tour that Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli paid to the summit’s complex and grounds in Sharm el-Sheikh the other day provided the latest evidence of such resolve that goes in harmony with the status of Egypt as the summit’s host and presidency as well as with the summit’s significance as a landmark international event. So, the prime minister’s tour featured the inspection of the summit’s main service sites, including the main conference chamber, meeting halls, delegate lounges, registration counters and media outlets. Of special significance was the prime minister’s inspection of the Green Zone and the Blue Zone. Located opposite the convention centre, the former has been designed as a venue for workshops, debates, exhibitions and cultural performances as Environment Minister Yasmine Fouad told PM Madbouli at the site. The latter, the Blue Zone, will be the area for plenary and thematic sessions as well as for galleries.
The briefings that the prime minister received from accompanying officials during the inspection tour indicated that the materials used in site development works are environment-friendly, pointing to the country’s overall keenness on observing environmental standards in carrying out the multiple preparations to convene the summit. As a matter of fact, such keenness is no transient attitude but rather an indication of a genuine orientation to push forward sustainable development that relies mainly on eco-friendly urbanisation, digital transformation, the use of clean energy and the promotion of green economy. In harmony with this orientation came PM Madbouli’s inspection of the Transport Ministry’s fleet of electric and natural gas-powered buses and the Sharm el-Sheikh City’s smart digital system project which aims to provide delegates, participants and visitors with taxi services, smart parking facilities and e-payment and collection services.
All such preparations contribute to asserting the spirit of the Sharm el-Sheikh summit as a big international event that will witness, in addition to summit meetings, two other key assemblies: the 17th session of the Conference of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 17) and the 4th session of the Conference of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA 4). Both instruments, together with the conclusions and accomplishments of previous COP summits, constitute the agreed frameworks from which international climate action can proceed in Sharm el-Sheikh to develop unanimity on the way ahead especially now that the manifestations of climate change have reached worrying lines in terms of severity, frequency and expanse.
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