Assem Hanafi: Green development opportunities and challenges of "The Belt and Road Initiative

It’s a great honor and immense pleasure for me to give a speech at the Belt and Road Economic and Environmental Cooperation Forum, and I would like to extend my gratitude to All-China Environmental Federation and The Belt and Road Eco-Industry Cooperation Working Committee of ACEF, and other organizers and sponsors for organizing this event, where there is a crucial need to consolidate our efforts to combat climate change.

Assem Hanafi, Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt to China

Climate change is a cause that unites us all, regardless of our nationality or religion or race, it is a cause of utmost importance that require joint immediate actions and steps to tackle its hazardous effects on humanity, through gradually shifting to clean sources of energy.

The green energy transition is a process, and it not an easy one but it’s worth it, it will take some time but will eventually yield fruitful results and benefit us all, but currently we face some challenges that halt this transition, and I would like to shed the light on some of this major challenges, which are as follows:

1-Financing of green energy projects:

As there is a global need for countries to adopt a more strategic approach to apply innovative sources of financing, through engaging the private sector in financing the green energy projects, in addition to engaging International Finance institutions and Multilateral Development Vanks (MDBs), which will help national governments in undertaking these projects. 

2-The misconception that environmental regulations impairs economic competitiveness:

For decades, Policymakers have long feared that pro-environmental policies would be a constraint on their country’s economic development and competitiveness, therefore, it is imperative to implement flexible and cost-effective environmental policy instruments, which is being applied by leading organizations and corporations, as they choose to “Go Green” which increased its productivity and maximized its profits, in addition to offering new job opportunities, thus benefiting the economy in different dimensions.

3-Natural disasters:

Natural disasters come in many forms and manifestations, such as earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, etc..; but unfortunately the occurrence of natural disasters has recently accelerated especially last year due to climate change, and failure to implement necessary climate action to mitigate global warming and extreme weather events and disasters.  

4-Application of sustainable technology:

No one can deny that the transition to clean and renewable energy requires innovative technologies that are not available in the least developing countries and some developing countries, despite having an abundance in renewable energy resources, thus it is imperative for the advanced countries to share the Know-how, and engage in technology transfer to countries in need, as humanity is a facing an existential threat and strives to achieve a common goal.

5-COVID-19:

We witnessed an unprecedented challenge, a pandemic that wreaked havoc in the world, forcing countries to close their borders, causing tremendous losses to the economic development, and both national and global supply chains, luckily, the world and notably China, are recovering from the pandemic and its harmful consequences.

China as a major country that strives to achieve sustainable development to its people, and in this regard and stemming from its determination to combat climate change, China announced in 2020 that it would aim to achieve CO2 emissions peak before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060.

According to a guideline issued by the National Development and Reform Commission last year, China will promote the green development of the Belt and Road, strengthening international cooperation on the issue, as its aims to enhance cooperation in multiple areas with the countries along the Belt and Road by 2025 and form a green development pattern for the initiative by 2030,

In addition China is actively engaging in the field of renewable and clean energy as the Baihetan hydropower station went into full operation last year, which is the world's second-largest of its kind after the Three Gorges Dam project in Central China's Hubei Province.  

Egypt has joined the Belt and Road initiative (BRI) in 2016, and since then it became a part and parcel of the initiative, and engaged with China in several projects, notably the TEDA-Egypt in Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone), which is considered one of the major Chinese flagship projects in Egypt within the BRI.

It worth mentioning that the Suez Canal Economic Zone is looking forward to promoting cooperation to new highs in the field of green energy, as the zone is establishing a new company that would focus on complementary industries to make solar panels, electric turbines, and maintain localization of green industrial technology in Egypt,

Egypt possesses many factors that assist in making the country a prime location for renewable energy projects, as Egypt aims to become an Energy hub in the MENA region especially in the field of green and renewable energy, as Egypt has already engaged in several green energy projects such as benban solar power park, which is considered one of the largest photovoltaic parks in the world, and  Zaafarana, Ras Ghareb wind farm projects.

Egypt 2030 strategy focuses on three priorities: expansion of natural gas as a transitional fuel, the preparation of a national hydrogen strategy and the expansion of renewable energy, especially solar and wind power, In addition, Egypt launched last year its official National Climate Change Strategy 2050, which focuses on five main goals as follows, which are: maximizing energy efficiency, enhancing adaptive capacity, consolidating climate change action governance, improving infrastructure for climate action, and scaling-up scientific research, technology and knowledge transfer, in order to increase renewable energy generation to 42%by 2035, and about 60% by 2040.

COP27 was successfully hosted by Egypt in November 2022, it brought together over 30 thousand of stakeholders, including political leaders, International development partners and NGO’s from 190 countries to reach agreement on climate-related topics, and Egypt’s priority in COP27 was to move from talks, negotiations and planning to actual implementation, and within this framework a historic breakthrough was achieved that has been nearly three decades in the making, which was the establishment of a Loss and Damage Fund to help vulnerable countries cope with the destructive impacts of climate change.

It is worth mentioning that COP27 was also a display of the strong cooperation between Egypt and China. As the Egyptian president Abdel Fattah El Sisi announced “Sharm El Sheikh” to be Egypt’s first green city, the transformation to a green Sharm El Sheikh has been supported by China’s Ministry of Environment through providing energy efficient bulbs, street lighting, and cooling technologies.

I would like to conclude my speech by affirming that our march towards green development is an ongoing process through our combined efforts and dedication, and  would like to thank you again for inviting me to this important event.