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Al-Ahram Weekly 21 - 27 October 1999 Issue No. 452 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 21 - 27 October 1999 Issue No. 452
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Upgraded environments
By Mahmoud BakrMinister of Environment Nadia Makram Ebeid announced plans to declare five new industrial cities environment-friendly within 12 months. The initiative, according to Ebeid, was first presented at an earlier CAEM meeting in Egypt, and will be realised at a cost of $100 million, to be spent on eliminating pollution, installing clean technology and recycling industrial waste water.
Speakers were keen to emphasise the importance of greater inter-Arab co-ordination, particularly concerning climate change and housing policies. They also emphasised the necessity for greater co-ordination before November's World Trade Organisation negotiations in Seattle if the Arabs are to protect their export markets.
Ebeid was keen to stress that the burden of environmental protection cannot fall exclusively on the shoulders of government. "Arab societies and associations must play a role in achieving the desired changes. The environment is for all and the culture of the environment is for all," she said.
Esmat Abdel-Meguid, Arab League secretary-general, stated that Arab governments were closely monitoring progress in their economic and environmental reform programmes. Although the industrial nations remain ambivalent about international agreements, he said, linkages are gradually developing between trade, investment and financial assistance on the one hand and environmental issues on the other. This, he argued, ultimately imposes restrictions on developing countries, the Arab world included, limiting their ability to compete or enter other markets.
It is ironic, Abdel-Meguid continued, that the industrialised nations do not themselves apply the environmental measures they insist the developing world adheres to. "There is a double standard in trade and environmental issues," he concluded.
According to Prince Fahd bin Abdallah Al-Saud, Saudi minister of civil aviation and director of the executive bureau of the CAEM, the council's most important achievement to date remains the endorsement of the Arab Declaration for Environment and Development, issued in 1991. He also praised the Arab Action Programme Charter for being consistent in its content with the 21st Century Action Programme issued at the Rio Earth Summit.
