Egypt’s Minister of the Environment Yasmine Fouad and Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Ahmed Issa discussed on Sunday ways to enhance cooperation between the two ministries to support the environmental and sustainable tourism products and regulate activities in natural reserves. The meeting also discussed ways to enhance joint efforts to further integrate the environmental dimension into the tourism sector in Egypt, in addition to mechanisms to confront and limit poaching activities, eliminate any wrong practices, and spread environmentally friendly practices that contribute to restoring the efficiency of the ecosystem. During the meeting, Fouad reviewed the most important axes of the Ministry of Environment’s work to develop nature reserves, raise the quality of services provided, and integrate the surrounding communities. The Minister of Environment drew attention to the importance of marketing eco-tourism, referring to the “Eco Egypt” and “Stories from Its People” campaigns, which shed light on eco-tourism in nature reserves and the local communities in them, with their distinctive culture and heritage. Recently, the Tourism Ministry has completed the evaluation and licensing of a number of environmental hotel establishments in Siwa Oasis, Matrouh governorate, which are the first environmental hotels to be evaluated in accordance with the Egyptian requirements and standards approved for evaluating ecolodge hotels.
