Arab Republic of Egypt Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade General Organization for Export and Import Control

- Eng. Ahmed Samir: Egypt has made great strides towards reducing carbon emissions in domestic industry and moving towards a green economy.

- The importance of strengthening global efforts to find new solutions and deploy low-carbon technologies to industrial sectors.

- Egypt is currently developing a "Green Star" program to give preference to low-carbon products in government procurement and to launch a national emissions trading plan to contribute to the dissemination of low-carbon technologies.

Eng. Ahmed Samir, Minister of Commerce and Industry, confirmed that the Egyptian State has gone a long way towards reducing carbon emissions in domestic industry through the efforts of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to transform the industrial sector to use green technologies and ensure the establishment of low-carbon infrastructure projects in industrial areas Egypt supports the transition towards a green economy. For more than 20 years, Egypt has worked to promote sustainability in the industrial sector by reducing pollution, increasing resource efficiency and expanding the use of sustainable energy through permanent cooperation with partners from global organizations and financiers to reduce Egyptian industrial sector carbon emissions.

This was in the context of the Minister's speech during his participation in the opening session of the Carbon Reduction Day of the Sharm el-Sheikh COP٢٧ Climate Conference, with the participation of Mr. John Kerry, United States Special Envoy for Climate and Eng.Tariq Al-Mulla, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources and Mr. Gerd Muller, Director of the United Nations Industrial. "UNIDO", along with a large number of ministers and global figures participating in the Conference.

The Minister said that the nations of the world were currently experiencing climate change and were making sustained efforts to achieve a green and more prosperous future for future generations, noting that the Climate Conference entitled "Together to implement", with the participation of Governments, the private sector, academics and civil society, was aimed at enhancing the achievability of climate goals.

Samir noted the importance of strengthening joint global efforts to achieve climate goals by finding new solutions and deploying low-carbon technologies in industry environment ", especially since the industry sector accounts for about one third of the world's polluting emissions, Especially the steel, cement, aluminum, fertilizer, building materials and chemicals sectors which account for 70% of these emissions Egypt's industrial sector is one of the most important productive sectors of the national economy and contributes to the growth of GDP. 

The Minister explained that the Ministry has implemented a project in cooperation with a number of international institutions to promote energy efficiency in the industrial sector, as well as raising investors' awareness of industrial zones and assisting them with actions and projects to shift towards clean energy.

Samir noted the importance of "Carbon Emissions Reduction Day" in highlighting the challenges facing the energy-intensive industry, finding promising solutions and announcing new action plans and partnerships to enable carbon emissions reduction for these industries development ", highlighting the importance of strengthening joint efforts between developed and developing countries in this regard by focusing on three themes: technology, investment and finance, and data on market transparency.

With regard to the first axis, the Minister stressed the importance of Governments encouraging the use of carbon reduction technologies for energy-intensive sectors and the transfer of their knowledge and expertise because they are not yet mainstreamed development ", noting the need for more technological cooperation with developed countries with a view to moving on the right path towards reducing carbon emissions and increasing the industrial sector's awareness of solutions and technological options to reduce carbon emissions, as well as the knowledge and skills needed to apply and promote the use of these technologies.

With regard to the second axis, Samir noted the need to make substantial investments in several sectors, such as steel and construction materials, to shift their production operations towards reducing carbon emissions, as well as joint action to stimulate such investments, prevent delays in developing countries in this regard and ensure that such investments are directed to all regions of the world at the same time. The third theme underscores the need to make carbon data available for carbon emission reduction decisions, taking into account products' environmental and climate impacts.

The Minister noted that the Egyptian State was currently developing a "green star" program, which included preference for low-carbon products in government procurement, as well as the launch of a national emissions trading plan that would help the domestic market to deploy low-carbon technologies.

Samir pointed to the Egyptian state's desire to include in the discussions of the climate conference linking the events in the developed countries to the needs of the African continent and the southern countries, thus contributing to determining the path of decarburization of the industrial sector, paying tribute and appreciation to Egypt's partners, in particular the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) "UNIDO" for developing Carbon Emission Reduction Day frameworks to contribute to Egypt's environmentally friendly industrial development.

It is worth mentioning that a number of bodies and bodies of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, including the General Authority for Industrial Development, the General Organization for Export and Import Control, the Egyptian General Authority for Specifications and Quality, the Industry Agreements and Foreign Trade Sector and the Industry Modernization Center, are represented at the Cleaner Production Technology Center.