UK’s Prince Charles visits Egypt, discusses climate change with Sisi

Prince Charles, inheritor to the British throne, and his spouse Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, arrived in Egypt at the moment for a two-day go to as a part of their first tour because the begin of the COVID-19. They paid a go to to Jordan two days in the past.

As they stepped off their aircraft, the pair had been greeted by Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Khaled El Anani and the UK’s Ambassador to Cairo, Gareth Bayley, OBE. 

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and his spouse, Intissar Amer, obtained the couple on the Ittihadiya Palace in Cairo, the place they mentioned combating terrorism and extremist ideology.  

Sisi affirmed Egypt’s solidarity with the UK within the face of terrorism following the current terrorist incident in Liverpool. Prince Charles praised Egypt’s efforts in confronting extremist concepts and combating terrorism. The assembly mentioned cooperation in lots of fields, particularly college training and well being, along with coordinating on local weather change points.

Intissar El Sisi wrote on her Fb web page that she and Camilla talked about empowering girls, whether or not throughout the authorities or parliament. 

The royal couple visited Al-Azhar mosque, the oldest Sunni establishment within the Muslim world, and met with the Grand Imam Ahmed Al-Tayeb. They talked in regards to the function of religion in preserving the surroundings in addition to strengthening non secular ties between the UK and Egypt.

Camilla visited the low-income neighborhood of Ezbet Khairallah in Previous Cairo to examine a group initiative underneath the supervision of the British Council to empower girls to be breadwinners.

The go to got here within the context of cooperation between the 2 nations after the COP26 local weather summit. Egypt’s Crimson Sea metropolis of Sharm El Sheikh has been formally chosen to host subsequent yr’s UN local weather change convention (COP27) subsequent November.

In his speech on the Glasgow COP26 Convention final month, Sisi vowed that his nation would search to reinforce worldwide local weather motion to realize the objectives of the Paris Settlement throughout Egypt’s presidency of the COP27.

Africa produces about 4% of the world’s carbon emissions. The president known as for the worldwide group to finance the continent’s problem to answer local weather change.

El-Sayed Hegazy, Parliament’s Secretary of the Power Committee, hailed the Prince’s go to and stated “it exhibits the world Egypt is a secure nation.” He informed Al-Monitor that Egypt is planning to extend the provision of electrical energy generated from renewable sources to twenty % by 2022 and 42 % by 2035.

Based on the 2035 technique, Egypt plans to supply 61,000 megawatts of renewable vitality by photo voltaic and wind energy. In October, Egypt signed two agreements for establishing a 500MW wind farm within the Gulf of Suez space.

“The prince’s go to to Al-Azhar is a crucial message to the world that Egypt is witnessing a increase in relations between religions and non secular tolerance,” Evelyn Matta Botrous, MP of Business Committee, informed Al-Monitor. “Egypt is not only for Egyptians themselves. It hosts thousands and thousands of refugees and no considered one of them feels foreignness. We Egyptians are loving all individuals.”

On Oct. 10, Sharm El-Sheikh Worldwide Airport obtained its first flight from London following the removing of Egypt from the UK’s journey COVID purple record on Sept. 17. Within the first week of November, the Egyptian service EgyptAir kicked off its direct flight from Heathrow to Luxor.

Alaa El-Ghamry,  a tourism skilled and former member of the Egyptian Journey Brokers Affiliation, informed Al-Monitor that Egypt will witness a rise of British vacationers following the prince’s go to — particularly when Egypt is at present making ready for main festivals just like the Pharaonic-themed parade in Luxor scheduled on Nov. 25 and the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum.

Prince Charles and Camilla visited Egypt in March 2006, as a part of a two-week tour, which included Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and India. The prince’s first go to to Egypt was in 1981, on his honeymoon along with his late first spouse, Princess Diana. After greater than ten years handed, Princess Diana visted Egypt in August 1992.