Sustainable water management: Director-General Fink-Hooijer urges transformation towards a circular water economy in Cairo

Director-General for the Environment Florika Fink-Hooijer has visited Cairo from 29 to 31 October 2023 to strengthen EU-Egypt cooperation on environmental issues. At Cairo Water Week, she emphasised the importance of sustainable water management, especially water reuse and the importance of the nexus approach towards water, food and energy ecosystems. She underlined that water stress is an increasing global issue, not only in the Mediterranean region and the Middle East, but also in Europe.

On Monday, Director-General Fink-Hooijer attended an EU-Egypt Circular Economy conference where she explained how a circular economy will help to address the environmental challenges we are facing globally by cutting greenhouse gas emissions, fighting biodiversity loss, and increasing competitiveness along global value chains. This issue of circularity stood also central at the EU-Egypt Investment Forum, which is aimed at showcasing investment opportunities, driving innovations, and forging lasting partnerships.

Director-General Fink-Hooijer furthermore met with Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Hani Sweilam to discuss a joint declaration with Egypt on water partnership and the possibility of creating a High level policy dialogue platform “Egypt-Europe Water Platform (EEWP)”. The aim of the platform is to promote water policy dialogues, collaborative research and business opportunities based on mutual interests and joint funding.

Director-General for the Environment, Fink-Hooijer said:

I am delighted that the EU and Egypt are continuing a very constructive dialogue and collaboration in a strategic area of environment. On many topics, such as biodiversity, water, circular economy, waste and plastic, we share the same objectives and we will work closely together on the solutions.

Background

The sixth edition of the Cairo Water Week has been organised by the Egyptian Ministry of Water resources, in cooperation with the EU and the UN. The event takes place in the wake of the landmark UN Water Conference in New York in March, which built significant momentum for driving the global water agenda forward. The EU is committed to implement the Water Action Agenda and recently announced a Water Resilience Initiative as one of next year’s priorities.

More information

EU efforts on the global water agenda

EU action on water

EU action on circular economy