Egypt eyes diplomatic payoff from hosting COP27 climate summit

Egypt eyes diplomatic payoff from hosting COP27 climate summit

When Egypt hosts the COP27 climate summit this week it will be hoping for an injection of international legitimacy as well as green financing at a time when its economy has been struggling and it has faced rising criticism over human rights.

The United Nations climate talks in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh starting on Sunday will put the global media spotlight on Egypt in a way the country last saw during its 2011 "Arab Spring" uprising.

Since then, the Arab world's most populous nation has been buffeted by post-uprising political turmoil, a military-led takeover, a long crackdown on dissent and a series of economic shocks that diminished its traditional role as a diplomatic player across the Middle East and in Africa.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has gradually sought to bring Egypt back to the world stage, promising a development-focused new era for the country despite continuing economic headwinds which have seen the currency slide by about 35% against the dollar since March.

"Core to everything that drove their (COP27) application in the first place is international legitimacy," said Hafsa Halawa, a non-resident scholar at the Middle East Institute.

Authorities want to show "that Egypt is not an irrelevant country, that Egypt has