Under the banner “a civilization inspired by nature”, the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, represented by the Egyptian General Authority for Tourism Activation, launched an international promotional campaign to promote sustainable tourism in Egypt. The promotional campaign aims to promote sustainable tourism in Egypt, targeting the main markets exporting tourism to Egypt, including Germany, the UK, Italy, the US, and the Arab countries, Amr al-Kady, CEO of the Egyptian General Authority for Tourism Activation, said. This is to highlight the efforts of the modern Egyptian state in preserving the environment and transforming into sustainable green tourism. Suzan Mustafa, Director General of the Tourism Promotion Department at the authority explained that the campaign will start by publishing a group of short promotional film. These short documentary style films are on various Egyptian tourist destinations, highlighting distinguished environmental diversity and what distinguishes each region in Egypt.

Planning Minister Hala el Saeed inaugurated on Thursday “Solutions Day” in the presence of Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli and with the participation of Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, Environment Minister Yasmin Fouad and UN Climate Change High Level Champion Mahmoud Mohieldin. “Solutions Day” comes as part of COP 27 held in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheikh. Saeed pointed out to the reports of the intentional government authority concerned with climate change which asserted the importance of finding bold, ambitious and creative solutions to handle the climate change and achieve the goals of UN for climate change and Paris Agreement. The day will witness launching several important initiatives that include a group of sectors like garbage management, sustainable urban flexibility and sustainable urban transport, she said. “Solutions Day” tackles possible solutions to array of climate change challenges ranging from the holistic, cross cutting solutions such as greening of national budgets, or sustainable cities, multilevel action and sustainable transport, to sectoral solutions like waste management, alternatives to plastic and green building.

CAIRO – 17 November 2022: Minister of Environment Yasmin Fouad stated in a phone-in Wednesday that Egypt had included biodiversity in the COP 27 agenda – for the first time – as it is necessary to mitigate climate change through natural ways. The minister added that Egypt – COP 27 president - would continue to observe the implementation of climate pledges until the UAE assumed the summit's presidency late in 2023. Environment Minister Yasmine Fouad said Sunday that the international climate summit, COP27, in Sharm el Sheikh has so far reflected a “different” image of Egypt and its ability to organize such big world events. She talked about how Sharm el Sheikh turned into a green city with many projects to be implemented, thus securing future jobs for youth in the coming stage. Pavilions organized in the blue and green zones of the Sharm el Sheikh conference are double the number organized during previous gatherings since 2015, said a proud Fouad.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry received on Wednesday the UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology Sultan Al-Jaber, who is also his country’s special envoy for climate change. He also highlighted his country’s keenness on the success of the UN Conference of Parties on Climate Change (COP27) being held in Sharm El-Sheikh until 18 November and its successful outcome. For his part, Shoukry thanked the UAE official for his interest in communicating with the conference presidency and working to ensure that the Sharm El-Sheikh conference achieves its goals. He also reviewed the various topics on the agenda, expressing his hope that the coming days will see more rapprochement between countries on these topics. Finally, he stressed Egypt’s constant keenness and readiness to coordinate with the UAE on the COP28 to ensure its success.

CAIRO – 16 November 2022: Public Prosecutor Hamada al-Sawy inaugurated Wednesday the second annual meeting of the Egypt-chaired Association of Arab Public Prosecutors, hosted by Saudi Arabia for the year 2022. Sawy stressed in his speech that the association's purpose is the elimination of hindrances crippling cooperation between its members, and that ways of communications had already been devised, enabling the fulfillment of relevant international and regional commitments. Another goal of the association is sharpening the skills of members, especially in the areas of evidence collection, judicial prosecution, international cooperation, tracking and confiscation of criminal revenues. That is why training sessions were held in 2021 and 2022 for members of Arab public prosecution authorities. A workshop was held on the meeting's sidelines, having as title "Financial Fraud Crimes and Their Relation to Cybersecurity."

Sharm El-Sheikh – Nigerian Minister of Environment Muhammad Abdullah revealed on Tuesday that his country is seeking more cooperation with Egypt, especially in the energy sector, pointing out that there are advanced talks with the Egyptian side and meetings that are scheduled to be held during the coming period to further cooperation. Abdullah added that his country will participate in launching the African carbon market and cooperate with Egypt in this aspect, especially as it sees promising opportunities in this market. This came in an interview with Daily News Egypt on the side-lines of the UN Conference of Parties on Climate Change (COP27) that is being held in Sharm El-Sheikh till 18 November. He added that his country plans to transition from traditional energy to clean energy by 2035, especially in light of Africa’s pursuit of growth, specifically in the industrial fields. He noted that this is the reason behind calling the climate conference in Egypt the ‘implementation conference.’Additionally, he praised Egypt’s hosting of the climate conference on behalf of Africa, along with its organisation and management of the event.

Vice President of the European Investment Bank (EIB) Ambroise Fayolle revealed on Wednesday that the share of the bank’s investment that went to climate and environmental action projects rose to 51% in 2021. “The Bank is transforming faster than anyone could have expected to meet our climate commitments,” he added. During his speech before the 5th High-Level Ministerial Dialogue on Climate Finance organised by the UN Conference of Parties on Climate Change (COP27) that is being held in Sharm El-Sheikh till 18 November, Fayolle mentioned that in 2021, the Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) provided $82bn for climate action globally, out of which $51bn was for climate finance in low- and middle-income countries. Fayolle further added that MDBs have a key role to play, stressing that working in partnership is the only solution. “We are supporting clients so that they better understand climate risks and build resilient, low-carbon, and inclusive infrastructure, cities, and businesses.

CAIRO -16 November 2022: President Abdel Fattah El Sisi has issued directives to officials to disburse additional payments to the families of the martyrs through the Martyrs Honoring Fund. During a meeting Wednesday with the fund board chairman major general El Sayyed El Ghaly, the president ordered the fund officials to count the families of martyrs who fell in wars since 1948 to enable them to benefit from services offered by the fund such as education, health and social care. Presidential spokesman Bassm Rady said the president reviewed the annual reports of the activities of honoring the martyrs in coordination with the ministries concerned with the aim of offering the best benefits for the families of the martyrs, as well as disbursing additional sums of money for the families of the martyrs and the wounded.

The Egyptian Cabinet has approved facilities on entry tourist visas to Egypt for holders of the Hayya card designated for World Cup fans in Qatar. It is a chance to benefit from the promotion of Egyptian tourism during the World Cup period. All hotels in Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh will offer a discounted rate on accommodation prices online for World Cup fans with the Hayya Card. The Cabinet also announced cooperation with airlines and the Ministry of Civil Aviation to provide flights from Qatar to Egypt during this period. The Qatar 2022 World Cup is being held for the first time in the Middle East and in an Arab capital after years in which European countries took over the organization of the World Cup, with the exception of a few times when the tournament went to Asia, Africa and America.

Net profits amounted to EGP 1.753bn in the nine months ending on September 30, 2022, an increase of 22.2%, due to the growth of operating revenues by 32.8% to record EGP 4.379bn. Ghanem added that the loan and deposit portfolio witnessed a strong growth during the nine months ending on September 30, 2022, as total loans amounted to EGP 34.282bn, a growth rate of 27.3%. Corporate loans achieved a growth of 33.6%, and retail loans achieved a growth of 23.2% compared to the period ended on 31 December 2021. He pointed out that the total deposits amounted to EGP 87.245bn, with a growth rate of 38.7%, as the growth rate in corporate deposits reached 47.4%, and retail deposits achieved a growth rate of 23%. The bank also achieved a growth of 34.2% in total assets compared to the period ended 31 December 2021.

Suez Canal Bank, led by Hussein Refai, Chairperson and Managing Director of the bank, achieved strong business results by the end of the third quarter of this year. According to the bank’s performance indicators, the bank’s net profit jumped to EGP 735m at the end of September 2022, compared to EGP 377m in September 2021, with a growth rate of 95%, supported by an increase in net income from the return by 17%. The increase in net fee and commission income amounted to 41%, to reach EGP 200m at the end of September 2022, compared to EGP 142m in September 2021. The bank also succeeded in increasing the net loan portfolio and customer facilities by 21%, to reach EGP 28bn in September 2022, compared to EGP 23bn in December 2021. The personal loans portfolio recorded a growth of 46% to reach EGP 2.6bn compared to EGP 1.8bn, while the small and medium-sized enterprises portfolio increased by 27%, to reach EGP 1.9bn compared to EGP 1.5bn.

Sharm El-Sheikh– Mahmoud Mohieldin — Egypt’s High-Level Climate Change Champion at the UN — said that Egypt, through the UN Conference of Parties on Climate Change (COP27), succeeded in placing adaptation, losses, and damages on the international climate action agenda after more than ten years of neglect. This came during a session titled ‘Towards Blue Cities: Adapting and Building Resilience to Climate Change in Coastal Communities and Cities of Africa’ in which he discussed the consequences of rising sea levels on small islands and the floods that have submerged about a third of Pakistan’s area under water. He also noted that prevention of these disasters will only take place with huge investments in mitigation measures, adding that transition towards a blue economy requires strong partnerships between public and private sectors, active participation of national development banks, and international financial institutions adopting standards for soft grants and loans and providing them to middle-income countries as well as low-income ones. Furthermore, the climate champion confirmed that the blue economy also needs more finance for adaptation measures, pointing to the importance of the Sharm El-Sheikh Adaptation Agenda as an international mechanism to promote adaptation measures and strengthen resilience to face climate change. Finally, Mohieldin praised the five regional forums that were held ahead of the conference, which resulted in 420 projects, 50 of which are being showcased at the COP27, some even relating to the transition to a blue economy.

Egypt’s Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Hani Sweilam announced on Monday, the launch of the Action on Water Adaptation and Resilience (AWARE) initiative, within activities of the Water Day during COP27. Sweilam indicated that Egypt has made great efforts to put water at the centre of global climate action through a number of measures and events, most notably Egypt’s launch of an international initiative to adapt the water sector during the Water Day. He stressed the importance of everyone’s support for this important initiative, which is concerned with water and climate issues at the global level, noting that COP27 is the first climate conference to dedicate an entire day to water systems. The necessary procedural steps will be taken to start the actual implementation of the initiative within a few months. All the details of the initiative and its projects will be announced during the United Nations Mid-Term Review Conference scheduled to be held in March 2023.

Nov 14 (Reuters) - Argentina will be looking to win a third World Cup title at the Nov. 20-Dec. 18 tournament in Qatar. * Teams will be able to select up to 26 players for this year's World Cup after FIFA increased the maximum limit for squads by three in June, citing the unusual timing of the tournament as well as the impact of COVID-19. WHO IS IN ARGENTINA'S WORLD CUP 2022 SQUAD? * Manchester United winger Alejandro Garnacho, 18, who has made seven appearances for the club this season, misses out. WHAT WAS ARGENTINA'S SQUAD AT THE 2018 WORLD CUP?

Nov 14 (Reuters) - Germany will be looking to win a fifth World Cup title at the Nov. 20-Dec. 18 tournament in Qatar. Who is in Germany's World Cup 2022 squad? Goetze, who scored the winning goal in the 2014 World Cup final, returns to the squad. * Borussia Dortmund captain Marco Reus and defender Mats Hummels miss out, with the former failing to recover from injury in time. WHAT WAS GERMANY'S SQUAD AT THE 2018 WORLD CUP?