The United States and Egypt on Monday launched a joint working group to prepare for the next climate change summit in November, the American envoy for climate issues said.
Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry said the group is focused on the United Nations’ COP27 conference in Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. He said the country has already begun its preparations for the meeting.
Kerry said other world tensions, including the ongoing Ukraine crisis, “will not change the reality of what is happening every day with respect to our climate,” and called the issue an “international threat for all of us.”
“There are no politics in this. There is no ideology in this. This is not anything to do with some of the issues” of concern for the U.S. administration, Kerry said at a news briefing in Cairo with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukry. Neither official took questions from reporters.
Kerry, who also met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, was referring to conflicts in the Middle East and likely Egypt’s human rights record, which has drawn criticism from the U.S. and other western governments.
