Egypt succeeds in meeting environmental requirements for trade

Nermin Murad, Egypt's deputy assistant foreign minister of the development and environmental affairs, said Egypt has managed to confront attempts to stop its membership in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

CITES regulates international trade in animals and plants that may be threatened by trade. It entered into force in July 1975. CITES operates on an (import - export) permit system corresponding to specified species. The administrative bodies are the Secretariat, located in Geneva, Switzerland, the Management and Scientific Authorities of each country, and the Conference of the Parties. The Parties meet roughly every two years at a COP to evaluate implementation of the treaty and consider efforts which would improve CITES' success, according to the Committee for the National Institute for the Environment document.

Some civil organizations working in the environment field that were after stoping Egypt's membership and imposing sanctions on it, claimed that there are operations to manufacture in Egypt ivory coming from African countries and exporting it abroad.

Murad added that members of the conference in the attendance of representatives of 125 countries in addition to non-governmental organizations supported the point of view of the Egyptian delegation in refuting these allegations, assuring the existence of a national committee that was especially formed to carry out the CITES agreement headed by Yusef Wali, the Egyptian deputy prime minister and minister of agriculture.