Rady added that Petersburg Climate Dialogue is a remarkable step ahead of the 2022 UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) that will be held in the Red Sea city of Sharm El-Sheikh in November, as it represents an opportunity for consultation and coordination among a large group of active countries in efforts to confront climate change.

Since 2009, Germany has been holding the Petersburg Climate Dialogue ahead of  annual UN Climate Change Conference for preliminary discussions.

The invitation by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for Egypt to co-chair with Germany this important forum comes in appreciation of Egypt’s vital role under the leadership of President El-Sisi, in the framework of climate change negotiations over the past years, said Rady.

Egypt has been coordinating with other countries and international partners on COP27 in the capacity of its presidency of the conference.

Furthermore, Egypt wishes to focus in COP27 on ensuring the implementation of the Paris Agreement on climate and turning pledges into actions.

Last month, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, the president-designate of COP27, participated in the Bonn Climate Change Conference (56th session of the Subsidiary Bodies) in Germany, which aimed to lay the groundwork for the success of COP27.

During the conference, Shoukry and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Patricia Espinosa officially signed the Host Country Agreement for COP27.

Bilateral relations and agenda

Besides the mutual priority of climate protection, El-Sisi’s visit to Berlin will focus on celebrating 70 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries, the German Embassy in Egypt said on Thursday.

Diplomatic relations between both countries began on October 16, 1952.

The foreign ministries of Egypt and Germany launched a joint logo in April, designed by the Egyptian Embassy in Germany and the German Foreign Ministry to commemorate 70 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

El-Sisi’s visit to Berlin “reaffirms the depth of the German-Egyptian relations and the mutual keenness of the two countries to deepen cooperation in the field of climate and stability in the Middle East,” German Ambassador to Cairo Frank Hartmann said.

The Egyptian Ambassador to Germany Khaled Galal explained to MENA that the Egyptian president will meet his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier in addition to convening meetings with the CEO of mega German companies interested in investing in Egypt.

In an interview with the news agency MENA, Galal also stressed the importance of the visit and its great impact on advancing the process of joint cooperation between the two friendly countries and their distinguished bilateral relations, as well as exchanging views on regional and international issues of common interest.

Galal explained that hundreds German companies are currently operating or have regional offices in Egypt.

The ambassador pointed out that there is a high-level program for technical cooperation between the two countries amounting to 160 million euros annually to implement development projects in the fields of water, sewage, and education in Egypt.

He also noted that the German side hailed the infrastructure development that is currently taking place in Egypt, referring to the cooperation in the Siemens project to construct the high-speed train at a total cost of eight billion euros.

The Egyptian president is expected to meet with several German officials including the German chancellor to boost bilateral relations in all domains and discuss mutual interest files, according to the presidential statement.

El-Sisi’s visit to Germany is the first since Scholz took office in November and the fifth for El-Sisi as president. Since he took office in 2014, El-Sisi paid four official visits to Germany in 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2019, as he discussed many issues of mutual concern with former Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Egyptian Minister of Trade and Industry Niveen Gamea said in previous statements that the volume of trade exchange between the two countries totalled 5.1 billion euros in 2021 adding that German investments in Egypt amount to about 2.9 billion euros.