President El-Sisi’s Speech at the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biodiversity

"Your Excellency, President Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China

Mr. Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary General

Mrs. Elizabeth Mrema, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It gives me pleasure to participate with you today in the opening of the Fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. In this regard, I would like to extend my gratitude to the People's Republic of China for its keenness on convening this session, despite the challenges facing multilateral action as a result of the repercussion of the Coronavirus, COVID-19, pandemic.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We live today a crucial phase in the history of mankind. This phase requires exerting diligent efforts to consolidate and address the formidable challenges we are facing; these challenges which were further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. We are still dealing with its negative repercussions across all levels. The latest Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity, published by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity, rang alarm bells regarding the rapid deterioration in biodiversity over the past years. It warned of a global catastrophe if world countries do not exert concerted efforts to change their consumption and production patterns and render it more sustainable and conscious regarding the significance of maintaining biodiversity and the safety of bio-systems for the future of our planet.

Bearing that in mind, Egypt has exerted rigorous efforts, since the meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Sharm El-Sheikh in 2018, to launch a new phase of collective action to formulate “A post -2020 Global Biodiversity Framework” and to set achievable objectives, supported by clear mechanisms for execution. Despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic over the past two years, the Egyptian chairmanship of the conference was capable of realizing tangible achievements in this regard. We hope the coming period will witness effective implementation of these objectives to make up for what has not been achieved over the past ten years.

What we have witnessed over the past two years points to the close connection between human health and its relation to its biosphere. As a result, Egypt rushed to launch an ambitious initiative in 2018, across all aspects of environmental work. This initiative aimed to achieve harmony and integrate efforts to preserve biodiversity, combat climate change and its negative repercussions and stop soil degradation and land desertification. This emanates from the belief that combined efforts will garner a positive impact on human health and on achieving comprehensive economic development.

Egypt is honored to hand over the Presidency of the Conference to the friendly People's Republic of China, confident in its ability to continue the important work that our peoples aspire to, in order to protect biodiversity and bio-systems on our planet. As a result, we look forward to continuing to work with China over the next two years to achieve this goal, wishing the Chinese side success in achieving the objectives of the agreement and maintaining the trust we hold for future generations.

Thank you."