CAIRO - 7 November 2022: Egypt officially took over the presidency of the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change on Sunday, which will be held until November 18, and is witnessing a wide international participation in the presence of more than 40,000 people representing around 197 countries. On Monday, the presidential summit begins, in the presence of leaders and heads of state and government, where there will be about 48 speakers from world leaders on the first day of high-level segment of COP27. Sharm el-Sheikh city will host 6 international meetings as part of the climate summit, including the presidential summit, which will be held on November 7 and 8, in addition to the Conference of Parties to the Kyoto Protocol, the Conference of the Parties to the Paris Agreement, and meetings of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation and the Subsidiary Body on Scientific and Technological Advice. The Presidential Summit will focus on a number of round tables on 6 main issues:- Just transitions- Food security- Innovative Finance for Climate and Development- Investing in the future of energy- Water security- Climate change and the sustainability of vulnerable communities

UAE newspapers out on Sunday shed light on the 27th session of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change Conference (COP27), to kick off in Egypt’s Sharm El Sheikh later in the day with the participation of dozens of world leaders, international organizations, and environmental NGOs. The papers made clear that Egyptian-UAE cooperation in climate action will positively be reflected on international efforts aiming at mitigating environmental risks. The UAE newspaper of Al Ittihad saw that Sharm conference is a good chance for rallying international efforts to fight climate change. It added that pumping more climate investments in countries hardly hit by climate change would certainly lead to achieving peace and stability worldwide. Also, Al Bayan newspaper highlighted COP27 conference, hoping it would lead to positive results that would limit the effects of climate change.

CAIRO - 6 November 2022: The Egyptian Exchange Holding Company for Capital Markets Development, the Agricultural Bank of Egypt and Libra Capital Group signed Sunday a framework to establish a Carbon Certificates Trading Company. Carbon certificate trading is a mechanism that aims to reduce companies’ emissions by setting a price for the polluting activities resulting from them, and allowing companies to buy and sell carbon credits related to the volume of their emissions. In return, the companies that reduce emissions sell their available emissions credits to achieve profit, which provides a financial incentive to reduce pollution. “The establishment of the first entity to manage and develop the environmental products and carbon market in Egypt, enhances the company’s efforts in the field of green energy, reducing emissions and preserving the environment,” said Sherif Magdy El-Gabaly, director of Libra Capital. He pointed out that Europe is the best in standards and activity in the areas of carbon markets, and China has benefited from it and adapted it to its needs, expressing his hope that the market will be active in Africa and Egypt.

CAIRO – 6 November 2022: President Abdel Fattah El Sisi said that he is looking forward to the inauguration of COP27 activities in Sharm El Sheikh City. He added that Egypt will spare no effort to help COP27 succeed and allow all participants to have their say. Shoukry also thanked the U.K. and Alok Sharma for the tight cooperation since COP26 to guarantee a successful COP27. He said that COP27 is a landmark on a long trajectory against the most important challenge facing humanity. The heads of state and government will deliver their national statements on November 7 and 8 at the Sharm El-Sheikh Climate Implementation Summit, one day after the kick-off of the two-week conference.

The global climate event offers a great opportunity to consider climate change impact on Africa, push for implementing the Paris Agreement as well as the outcomes of COP26, and mobilize global climate action. During a procedural session tomorrow, Foreign Minister and COP27 President-Designate Sameh Shoukry will take over the summit presidency from COP26 President Alok Sharma. The incoming Egyptian COP27 Presidency has identified a range of topics focused on enhancing implementation and raising ambition on broad range of issues related to climate change. These include: Finance Day, Adaptation and Agriculture Day, Water Day, Decarbonization Day, Science Day, Solution Day, Gender Day, Energy Day, Biodiversity Day, Youth and Future Generations Day, Ace and Civil Society Day. Its goal is to limit global warming to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law to conscript citizens with unexpunged or outstanding convictions for murder, robbery, larceny, drug trafficking and other serious crimes under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation to be called up for military service to mobilize. The only group of criminals exempted from the decree are those who committed sex crimes against minors, treason, spying or terrorism. Earlier this week, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that all partial mobilization activities, including summons deliveries, had been suspended after officials said the draft’s target of recruiting 300,000 personnel had been met. However, Putin’s partial mobilization order will only end when the Russian President signs in an official decree. Instead, the law applies to prisoners who were conditionally convicted or released from colonies.

CAIRO – 5 November 2022: Senate Deputy Speaker Phoebe Fawzy said the incoming global climate conference (COP27), Egypt will host tomorrow in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El Sheikh, will go down in history as a milestone on the road to addressing climate change challenges and a climate-safe world. President Sisi announced 2022 Year of Civil Society. The 27th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 27) to the UNFCCC will kick off tomorrow Sunday in the Red Sea resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh. The incoming Egyptian COP27 Presidency has identified a range of topics focused on enhancing implementation and raising ambition on broad range of issues related to climate change. The summit will run from 6 to 18 of November.

The official website of the Egyptian Presidency for the Conference of the Parties (COP27) has set the procedures necessary for the conference participants to organize a climate rally or march within the area designated for the demonstrations. The organizer of the rally should also notify the committee of COP27 with point or points of contact with a picture of the conference entry card of the point of contact. The official website of the committee said that these procedures comes in order to facilitate coordination, communication and exchange of information. More than 30 environment-related projects were rolled out recently in the city, reported Egyptian state news agency MENA. Work is also underway to upgrade Sharm el-Sheikh International Hospital to become the first green medical facility in Egypt and Africa through eco-friendly tools.

Tehran’s Yemeni proxy, the Houthi group, also threatened to strike Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as a truce in Yemen expired in October. The bellicose battle of cartoons and Quranic verses between Saudi Arabia and Iran isn’t new. Last month, while the IRGC was threatening Riyadh, the Iranian Supreme Leader’s adviser called for Saudi Arabia and Iran to reopen their embassies in each other’s capitals. “We are neighbors of Saudi Arabia and we must coexist,” said Ali Akbar Velayati. This time, however, given Iran’s very public threats to Saudi Arabia, Tehran may not have the option of plausible deniability as it did in 2019.

CAIRO – 5 November 2022: Head of the Healthcare Committee at the House of Representatives Ashraf Hatem told Al Watan newspaper Saturday that Egypt has no shortage in medicinal drugs and that local companies fulfill 90 percent of needs. Presidential Adviser for Health and Preventive Affairs Dr. Mohamed Awad Taj El-Din stated in March that Egyptian pharmaceutical companies had not been affected by the Russian-Ukrainian crisis. “The companies always have strategic reserves of pharmaceutical materials and we have a sufficient supply for local production,” he clarified, adding that the government would suspend medicine exports, if the local market experiences a shortage. Chairman of the Medicinal Drugs Authority Tamer Essam declared in January that Egypt’s exports of medicines had unprecedentedly risen by 35 percent.

CAIRO - 4November 2022: 17 young men from Beheira governorate drowned on an illegal immigration boat heading to Greece, Friday. Up to 68 people from different nationals were onboard according to Egypt’s immigration Ministry. The Greek Coast Guard rescued only 11 people, including 7 Egyptians. Egypt’s immigration minister Soha El Gendy offered her condolences to the families of the victims. El Geny also, contacted Egypt's ambassador to Greece, Omar Amer, to know all the needed information about the sinking of an illegal immigration boat off the Greek coast, and to find out the number of Egyptians on the stricken boat, and whether there were survivors, along with the position of the bodies of the deceased.

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun, the Luxor Museum of Ancient Egyptian Art will open on Friday November 4, the museum's library, and hold special events. One of the most popular pieces found in Tut's tomb is his golden throne made of gilded wood and decorated with colored glass and semi-precious stones. The focal point of the throne is the decorated scene on the back: the royal couple under the rays of the solar disk. One of the coffins is middle gilded, wooden and being inlaid with multicolored glass. In this sarcophagus the golden king was shown crossing his arms, holding the crook and flail, with a band of hieroglyphs resting vertically on the lower part.

The British Financial Times highlighted a number of the tourist and archaeological potentials of the Egyptian tourist destination, through a photo report on its writer’s visit to Egypt. The report began by emphasizing that although the wonders of ancient Egypt are still surprising and impressive, its vibrant present is also dazzling. In the report, the writer referred to his visit to Cairo, in which he enjoyed a mixture of modern life, in addition to visiting museums and seeing its archaeological masterpieces. The report referred handicrafts in Egypt and the efforts made by some innovators to preserve these original skills and crafts by training future generations on it. The writer also talked about Siwa Oasis in the Western Desert, and the sustainable development it has been undergoing since 1996.

Egypt - In light of the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority’s (NTRA) efforts to enhance the quality of telecom services provided for users, the National Telecom Centre for Monitoring Service Quality — a subsidiary of the NTRA — released its quality measurement report for the third quarter (Q3) of 2022. The measurement methodology used entailed conducting quality-measuring tests on samples of voice calls and data services to determine the quality of telecom services provided for users within the Egyptian market. As for Orange, it recorded poor performance in 17 areas — up from 16 — with Upper Egypt being its weakest zone, followed by Delta, the Suez Canal, and Cairo. Meanwhile, Etisalat suffered from poor quality indicators in 14 areas — up from 12 — with Alexandria being its worst zone, followed by Upper Egypt and the Suez Canal. Finally, WE recorded poor performance in 20 areas — up from 16 — with Alexandria being its worst zone, followed by Upper Egypt, Delta, and Cairo.

Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly arrived on Tuesday in Sharm El-Sheikh accompanied by Minister of Health and Population Khaled Abdel Ghaffar and Minister of Environment Yasmine Fouad. The visit comes a few days before the start of the UN Conference of Parties on Climate Change (COP27) with the aim of following up on the final preparations to hold the conference. During the visit, Madbouly inspected the central operations room, which is responsible for managing events and organisational and logistical processes for the conference. The PM also listened to an explanation from the room’s officials about the tasks it undertakes during the activities of the conference. Additionally, Madbouly and his companions inspected the Blue Zone and its extensions within the International Conference Centre.