Egypt: The Minister of the Environment, Dr Yasmin Fouad, held a meeting with the World Bank Mission in Cairo to discuss the latest updates on blue economy cooperation and the implementation of the technical assistance project in developing a national strategy for a flexible blue economy for Egypt.
The meeting took place today, May 23, 2023, and discussed startup mechanisms In the project and features of the business plan and agreed on the next steps.
According to the shared information, the meeting was conducted under the auspices of the World Bank’s PROBLUE trust fund. On her part, Minister Yasmin Fouad took great interest in environmental tourism as one of the mechanisms of the blue economy, said the reports.
The Minister affirmed that the blue economy is one of the mechanisms Egypt seeks to implement on its road towards a green transformation, which is based on the integration of environmental dimensions in various national policies and development aspects and promoting environmental investment.
In addition, “As Egypt seeks to achieve effective and flexible economic growth in the spheres of the blue economy while strengthening the efforts made during the past years to achieve Protection of coastal areas, including the preparation of an integrated coastal strategy, the establishment of the Supreme Committee for Licensing headed by the Minister of Water and Irrigation was made,” Minister added.
It was further emphasized that the membership of the ministries and stakeholders was set to take decisions related to tourism development in Egypt.
It also referred to 3 important decisions taken by the Committee to improve the licensing system, including the issuance of a guideline for coastal light facilities along with the guide Scaffolding Maintenance Guidance and the Coastal Plateau Pruning Guide. These guidelines have helped facilitate and maintain coastal development procedures.
Minister Yasmin Fouad discussed with the Bank Mission the strategic, institutional and artistic activities proposed through the project and the planned activities. She stressed the need to inform the Bank Mission of the efforts in the field of integrated coastal management and nature-based solutions.
Furthermore, the leading experiments implemented in coastal protection with nature solutions, to build on it in preparation of a plan Working for the coming period, with the need to hold meetings with stakeholders, especially the private sector, which is a key player in coastal tourism.
The Minister drew Egypt’s attention to the expansion of eco-tourism, one of the key pillars of the blue economy, where in the past period, we have seen many ground-breaking experiences and success stories in the field of eco-tourism through a partnership with the private sector.
She further noted that regarding working on biodiversity conservation, the national perspective should be linked to the Global Biodiversity Action Framework, adopted at the recent Biodiversity Conference COP15. “
The clauses commit all countries to work on declaring 30% of lands and marine areas as protected areas by 2020,” the Minister added, citing the need to work on Providing the necessary financial resources to make this happen in collaboration with development partners.
The Minister of the Environment pointed out the importance of highlighting during the preparation of the National Strategy of Blue Flexible Economy investment opportunities in the areas of blue economy as an economic, environmental, and social system aimed at conserving natural resources from an economic perspective that offers promising opportunities for private sector investments, and offers natural solutions for local communities to adapt to Effects of climate change.
On their part, the representatives of the World Bank confirmed that the aim of the project for the preparation of the National Strategy for a resilient blue economy is to work on achieving economic and social development in coastal areas.
They added that their current visit includes the holding of the first stakeholder meetings for the blue economy strategy to showcase the features of the bank’s technical assistance, especially in the components of marine ecosystems, biodiversity, and coastal nature-based tourism.
