News

 Ministers of local development, military production, and environment along with the head of Arab Organization for Industrialization have met on Monday 21st of January, 2019 with the German minister for economic affairs and energy, Peter Altmaier in the presence of Egypt’s ambassador to Germany, Dr. Badr Abd El-Atty, a number of representatives from the three ministries and a delegation from GIZ. 

At the onset of the meeting, Dr. Mohamed El-Asar, minister of military production emphasized on the importance of the strategic relation between Egypt and Germany in different field and appraised Germany’s support to Egypt in establishing a comprehensive system for waste management. He also added that this visit comes in line with President El-Sisi direction to form a committee composed of the three ministers and the head of AOI and be responsible for implementing a comprehensive system for waste recycling, following the German experience in this area. Further, Minister El-Asar said that their visit comes as a follow-up for Prime Minister, Dr. Mostafa Madbouly visit to Berlin in early January.

Minister El-Asar also emphasized on President El-Sisi concern in solving the problem of waste in Egypt and his interest in reaching a comprehensive system for solid waste management and hence, the government is working on upgrading the production technology to make use of the extracts in fuel production.

Minister of local development, General Mahmoud Sharawy said that the waste management system in Egypt is facing many challenges such as, the historical accumulation of waste in the governorates, weak infrastructure and lack of enough number of factories for waste recycling. Minister Sharawy asserted on Egypt’s concern in transferring the German technology and in conducting partnerships with German companies along with raising the capabilities of national employees and train them on the different stages of waste recycling as the case in Germany. However, he said that we must take into consideration the differences between the two countries while implementation.

Minister of Environment, Dr. Yasmeen Foua’d said that the current system for solid waste management will facilitate the road for investment and conducting partnerships with the German companies and it includes, a roadmap for waste management on the governorates’ level and the distribution of authority between the agencies required for planning and implementation. She also added that the national program for waste management is currently applied in 4 governorates and is working on improving the institutional system and providing the needed technical support in cooperation with the GIZ.

General Abdel Moneim El-Teras said that the Arab Organization for Industrialization (AOI) and the ministry of military production have good technical capabilities which will ease the transfer of the German experience to Egypt and will guarantee the success of implementing a comprehensive waste recycling system. He also added the AOI and the ministry of military production are seeking to conduct partnerships with German companies to manufacture required equipment and transfer technology to their factories.

German minister for economic affairs and energy, Peter Altmaier said that the high population growth widens the problem of waste and increases the pollution resulted from its accumulation. He also emphasized on the importance of healthy waste dumps and on how it should be well managed in order to avoid any mistakes that Germany experienced.

Minister Altmaier further added that waste gathering is a public service provided to citizens as any other service and that the German citizen is paying for this service. The German government in partnership with the private sector is managing a system for waste gathering, transporting, waste dumps and recycling. During the meeting, the minister presented the German experience in gathering waste, solid waste management, and recycling and emphasized on the necessity of having a comprehensive system for managing waste with all its stages.

The attendees also suggested the possibility of inviting German companies to visit Egypt in accompany with minister Altmaier during his proposed visit next February to discuss the potential ways for cooperation between the two countries in this field.