IMF green-lights $2.5 billion finance package for Egypt bailout
Egypt will get immediate access to some $1.2 billion that the International Monetary Fund approved after a review of the economic bailout program it undertook three years ago.
The IMF gave a green light on Monday to $2.5 billion in financing for Egypt, of which the other $1.3 billion is dedicated to spending on climate change and will be allocated in installments.
In a progress report on the 2022 rescue package, the IMF found “notable delays” on economic steps it mandated to “level the playing field.”
Still, it noted progress by the government and praised its “decisive action” over the past year on selling off state assets and maintaining a flexible currency exchange rate.
Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week draws presidents, energy CEOs
Environmentalists and energy companies are pouring into Abu Dhabi as a week of events focused on battling climate change kicks off.
Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week will draw 13 heads of state and at least 140 government ministers and senior officials from around the world when it starts on Monday with the annual assembly of IRENA, the U.N.’s International Renewable Energy Agency, which is based in the emirate.
With the week’s centerpiece ADSW Summit slated for Wednesday, other notable gatherings include the Global Climate Finance Annual Meeting, the World Future Energy Summit, the Green Energy Summit, the WiSER Forum for Women in Sustainability, Environment and Renewable Energy, and the ceremony to award the annual Zayed Sustainability Prize Awards.
Choreographing all the activities is Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, the UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, Group CEO of ADNOC and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi-based Masdar sustainable energy company. Al Jaber was President of COP28, the annual U.N. climate conference held in Dubai two years ago.
Among the national leaders joining the coming week’s events are Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, Finland’s Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, Azerbaijani President, Kenyan President William Ruto, Rwandan President Paul Kagame. ADSW is conducted under the patronage of UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed.
”By bringing together leaders in policy, business and technology, ADSW Summit 2025 will unite the global community to deliver interconnected solutions for energy, economies, and the environment,” Masdar CEO Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, Sustainability Week’s official host, said in a statement.
Topping the list of ADSW speakers will be Mohamed Al Hammadi, Managing Director and CEO of the Emirates Nuclear Energy Company; Catherine MacGregor, CEO of Paris-based Engie; Greg Jackson, CEO of the U.K.’s Octopus Energy; Lord Adair Turner, Chair of the international Energy Transitions Commission; Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin, Special Envoy for Financing the U.N.’s 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, United Nations; Musabbeh Al Kaabi, CEO of ADNOC’s Upstream division; and Himanshu Gupta, CEO and co-founder of San Francisco-based ClimateAi.
Egypt turns to space agency to help tackle water scarcity
The effects of climate change, population pressures and a regional struggle which has seen vast water resources diverted from the Nile to a dam in Ethiopia have all left Egypt rapidly approaching a state of severe water scarcity.
National authorities are now hoping to put advanced technology to work to help avert a crisis, by bringing in its space agency to revolutionize the study and sustainable management of water resources.
A cooperation agreement between the National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences and the National Water Research Center was announced on Tuesday to spearhead these efforts.
Under the deal, the agencies will join forces to develop innovative solutions for water management, including smart systems aided by aerial and ground sensors, advanced imaging and Internet of Things technologies.
