Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Mohamed Abdel Aati conferred on Sunday with Regional Director for the World Bank Group’s Sustainable Development Department for the Middle East and North Africa (MNA) region Ayat Soliman and her accompanying delegation on fields of mitigating and coping up with the impact of climate change.
During the meeting, Abdel Aati said Egypt is one of the main world countries suffering from water scarcity and the state is exerting great efforts to stand up against water challenges through an overall development process for the water systems by establishing projects for rehabilitation of canals and water facilities as well as expanding in the projects of desalination and purifying used water.
He underlined the role played by the ministry in turning to modern methods of irrigation to rationalize the use of water along with the expansion in the use of solar energy in irrigation projects as well as the use of underground water.
The minister said the ministry has succeeded in the campaign about the benefits of methods ways of irrigation as some 1.2 million feddans opted for the new ways of irrigation by the farmers themselves.
The two sides discussed granting scholarships to young engineers at the Irrigation Ministry along with preparations for the water pavilion at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) that will be hosted by Egypt later in the year.
The World Bank official, on her part, praised the water management system in Egypt as well as recent projects carried out to reuse water.
She also shed light on the guidance roadmap on climate change in the Middle East and North Africa region which was outlined by the World Bank to extend support to the countries in the region over the coming five years to reduce gas emissions and cope up with the rapid impact of climate change with the aim of increasing investments that take into consideration the climate and adopt a green development policy to reduce carbon emissions and comply with Paris accord objectives of 2015.
Source: State Information Service Egypt