CAIRO: Sameh Shoukry, Egypt’s foreign minister and president-designate of the 27th UN Climate Change Conference, met in Berlin with Ibrahim Thiaw, executive secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification.
Shoukry expressed his aspiration to continue coordinating and consulting with the executive secretariat regarding the conference, which will be hosted and chaired by Egypt in November in Sharm El-Sheikh.
He also reviewed ongoing preparations for the conference, including efforts to maximize participation from governments, international and regional organizations, and other concerned parties.
The international community has agreed that climate change poses an existential threat to human systems and the natural world.
But action to cut carbon pollution and prepare for the accelerating impacts is lagging, as is support for vulnerable countries confronting the ravages of a changing climate.
German and Egyptian leaders have urged industrialized nations not to let Russia’s war on Ukraine derail the fight against climate change as they met ahead of the COP27 summit in November.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said leaders were working hard to stay “on track for a successful COP27” in Egypt.
“Global circumstances are not making this an easy task,” she said, blaming Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for exacerbating “a global energy and food crisis that is pushing millions into poverty, hunger and starvation.”
Shoukry added it was key that “the current state of affairs is not taken as a pretext to backtrack or renege on previous commitments, especially those related to supporting developing countries.”
At a meeting in Bonn in June to lay the groundwork for the Egyptian conference, Egyptian Ambassador Mohammed Nasr said climate change was being “pushed back” due to these new challenges.
