Wednesday, June 05, 2024 Dr. Mostafa Madbouly, Prime Minister, held a meeting today with Dr. Yasmine Fouad, Minister of Environment, to follow up on some of the ministry's work files. At the beginning of the meeting, the Prime Minister pointed to the importance of green transformation and its role in supporting growth and sustainability at the level of various sectors, stressing that the state still places this file at the top of priorities. Accordingly, the minister stressed that there is a continuous keenness to promote and implement green growth policies, pointing in this regard to "evaluating green growth policies in Egypt in cooperation with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development." She added, in the same context, that a series of coordination meetings and workshops were held through the work team of the ministry and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and all ministries, concerned authorities and non-governmental bodies were invited, in addition to the implementation of field visits, including the field visit to the governorate of "Alexandria", during which a meeting was held with the governor, representatives of the governorate and executive agencies over the course of a year. The minister stated that within the framework of these efforts, a detailed report has been completed, with the section on the most resilient cities being a major focus. The summary of the report, which includes the assessment and recommendations of the Environmental Performance and Policy Committees of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, was discussed on May 28 and 29 in the presence of the Minister of Environment virtually, as a result of which the final version of the summary of the report was approved. The Minister stressed that the meetings to present and approve the draft report witnessed the praise of the representatives of the Organization and Member States for the progress made in integrating the principles of green growth at the level of policies, procedures and projects implemented during the past years, especially in the areas of mitigation and adaptation to climate change, improving air quality, expanding clean energy projects, efforts to preserve biodiversity, in addition to the efforts of the Egyptian government to create an atmosphere that encourages investment in order to support the green transition. Dr. Yasmine Fouad pointed out that the country's efforts to reduce air pollution with regard to PM.2.5 were recognized for the first time. In another context, the Minister touched on the efforts to implement the directives of His Excellency President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, President of the Republic, regarding the use of alternative fuel in cement factories instead of coal, as the Minister of Environment explained that the Ministry held a meeting with cement companies last May to encourage them to invest in waste recycling plants, with the aim of ensuring the treatment of all waste received by the treatment facility, and reducing the amount of rejections destined for sanitary landfills. The minister confirmed that the proposals of those companies on increasing the quantity of alternative fuels and improving its quality were listened to and taken into account. She also pointed to the investment of 5 companies, operating in different governorates, in the management and operation of solid waste recycling plants to produce alternative fuels.