أخبار

The Egyptian ministerial delegation composed of: Dr. Mohamed El-Asar, minister of military production; General Mahmoud Sharawy, minister of local development; Dr. Yasmeen Foua’d, minister of environment; and General Abdel Moneim El-Teras, Head of Arab Organization for Industrialization (AOI) have met with Svenja Schluze, minister of environment to discuss cooperation possibilities between the two countries in establishing a comprehensive system for solid waste.

The meeting that were attended by Egyptian ambassador to Germany, Dr. Badr Abdel Atty has focused on Egypt’s efforts to establish a sustainable system for solid waste and discussed the potential cooperation areas between Egypt and Germany under the framework of the national program for solid waste treatment. This is along with the mutual cooperation in training and exchanging experience to be aware of the latest German technology in the areas of biogas uses, safe waste disposal, and procedures used to face climate change. The meeting has also discussed different environmental issues of concern in the two countries as reducing pollution through sustainable use of resources and producing electricity using renewable energy.

Dr. Yasmeen Foua’d, Egyptian minister for environment has appraised the strategic relation between the two countries and the great success they reached in the last few years especially in the political and environmental areas. She also said that President El-Sisi is highly concerned with environmental issues and is keen to attend climate change conferences and provide support to African countries. This is beside his Excellency concern to put into consideration the environmental aspect in the projects adopted by the government. Minister Yasmeen Foua’d has presented the cooperation aspects in the waste management system and support of small and medium projects.

The German minister of environment has appraised minister Yasmeen’s efforts in Climate Change Conference that was held in Poland last December and her contribution to the success of the conference and to reach to suitable solutions for developing countries to confront climate change. This is aside the success of UN Biodiversity Conference that was held in Egypt last November. The German minister of environment also showed her interest in supporting the Egyptian ministry of environment in setting laws related to waste management and supporting Egypt in the fields of fuel and energy production from waste. 

Minister El-Asar added that President El-Sisi is highly interested in the issues related to environment and health protection. Indeed, ministry of military production and the Arab Organization for Industrialization (AOI) are currently working on manufacturing equipment for waste recycling along with Egypt’s efforts to transfer the German technology in this field through partnerships or contracts.  

Minister Sharawy said that several studies were conducted for the purpose of studying the status quo of all governorates, the quantity of waste produced by each and its features, the waste collection spots in each governorate, and knowing the best way to deal with. He also added that Egypt is facing many challenges in the area of waste management such as, the historical accumulation of waste but though, President El-Sisi has insisted on taking into consideration the social aspect while implementing the waste management system and on the necessity of including the citizens and civil society in the process. Minister Sharawy further asserted on the importance of training the people who will be part of the process on the German technology and the know-how of the process of waste management.

Finally, General El-Teras, Head of Arab Organization for Industrialization said that the Egyptian government is keen to have knowledge on the German technology in the field of waste management and to be aware of the German experience that succeeded to get over the problem of waste in 20 years. He also added that the AOI is cooperating with ministry of military production to put into practice President El-Sisi’s direction to establish a comprehensive system for waste management. This is along with AOI’s interest in cooperating and conducting partnership with German companies by transferring the German technology to AOI’s factories for waste separation and recycling and by training national employees on this technology.