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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 returned back to Cairo on Friday 25th of January, 2019 after 4-day visit to Berlin and Colon.

The Egyptian delegation has held a group of meetings with a number of German ministers as Svenja Schluze, minister of environment and nature protection as well as Peter Altmaier, minister for economic affairs and energy and in the presence of Egyptian ambassador to Germany, Dr. Badr Abd El-Atty and Tawfiq El-Khashin, manager of the national program for solid waste at the GIZ.

The delegation also visited a number of public and private German companies working in the field of waste management in Berlin, Colon and Bonn. These companies include: BSR responsible for cleaning services in Berlin, Remondis, Global Intertech, Black Forest Solution, RKD, coalition of Eco City, AVG responsible for waste recycling and producing biogas and energy in Bonn.

During the visit, the delegation had a view on the latest technology used in waste recycling and burying and on the different stages for managing waste. This is along with having a view on how the German government manages the whole process and its adoption for decentralization where the cost of waste gathering differs from one state to another depending on the number of citizens, kind of garbage, costs of gathering, transferring and recycling of waste. And as part of its concern with environment and sustainable development, Germany has adopted a policy to have a control on the manufacturing process of the private sector and the consumption of citizens in order to have a control on the quantity of waste produced from both sides.

The delegation did not only have a view on the process of waste management starting from gathering garbage from houses to transporting, separating and recycling waste but also, became aware of the different methods for building healthy dumps and for making use of waste extracts in construction, agriculture, producing alternative energy and electricity.

The ministers are expected to raise a report with the visit results and recommendations to President El-Sisi and Prime minister, Dr. Mostafa Madbouly. The ministers emphasized on the importance of building the infrastructure required for waste management system, raising the current capacities of recycling factories in the governorates, introducing new lines and repairing existing equipment with the necessity of introducing the latest German technology in this field and importing new equipment.

During the visit, some of the German companies specialized in waste management showed their interest in investing in Egypt and in providing any technical support needed especially with regard to building healthy dumps which will have positive effects on the environment and the national income. The German companies also emphasized on the advantages of waste recycling, gathering, and separating waste from its sources which will reduce the operational costs.