The launch of the Conference on Legal and Economic Aspects of Sustainable Development in the Light of Egypt’s Vision 2030 at the Faculty of Law

The activities of the Conference on Legal and Economic Aspects of Sustainable Development in the Light of Egypt’s Vision 2030, which is organized by the Faculty of Law at Ain Shams University over two days in cooperation with Cambridge University and the International Law Center for Sustainable Development, launched its annual conference on the topic of sustainable development, climate change and environmental protection.

In the presence of Prof. Dr. Mahmoud El-Meteini, President of Ain Shams University, Prof. Dr. Mohamed Safi, Dean of the Faculty of Law, Ain Shams University, in the presence of Dr. Marie Claire Seger, Director of the Center for International Sustainable Development Law, Dr. José Angelo Estrella Faria, Head of the Legislative Section and the Section of International Trade Law, UNCITRAL Office of Legal Affairs, Dr. Walid Bey on behalf of Mr. Jerome Fontana, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Cairo, Dr. Hajar Gildish, Chair of the International Law Commission of the African Union.

In his speech, Prof. Dr. Mahmoud El-Meteini, President of Ain Shams University, emphasized the regional and international cooperation pursued by the Faculty of Law, which bore fruit today in this international conference, stressing that the legal aspect is no less important than the economic aspect, which is the goal of today's conference.

Pointing out that we are a few hours away from the Cop27 Conference of Parties, which will last for two weeks, as the whole world's attention is directed to Egypt and is looking forward to the recommendations we will come up with. Therefore, this summit is the summit of implementation, and we have to come out with positive results.

In this regard, we, as a university, have launched a number of initiatives that we believe may benefit in the issue of climate change, and in the past few months we have transformed the university into a green university and an environmentally friendly campus.

Prof. Dr. Mohamed Safi, Dean of the Faculty, explained that this year’s Faculty Conference discusses the legal and economic aspects of sustainable development in the light of Egypt’s 20-30 vision, which is organized by the Faculty in fulfillment of its role in the field of applied scientific research with the aim of offering realistic solutions to the issues of the global community, especially the problems, requirements and challenges of sustainable development that clarified a topic The concern of the entire international community, especially the developing countries, which are striving to strike a difficult balance between their urgent need for economic development projects and the requirements of environmental and climate protection, comes in this context, Egypt's hosting of the International Conference of the 27 Parties to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change in Sharm El-Sheikh.

His Excellency added that the conference will discuss a set of studies, research and working papers distributed over 8 sessions over two days that deal with important issues, including climate law, the impact of technology and digitization on sustainable development and the settlement of related disputes, sustainable development from the perspective of Islamic law, international law and internal law, in addition to the economic impacts on sustainable development.

Dr.. Marie Claire Seger, Director of the Center for International Sustainable Development Law and CEO of the Climate Governance Initiative, highlighted that this conference is taking place at a sensitive time coinciding with the holding of COP27 and in light of the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and the Global Framework for Climate Law. Thanks to the success partners from Ain Shams University Emphasizing that the basis and the bottom line is to make all efforts that can lead to facing the main challenge, which is climate change

Mr. José Angelo Estrella Faria, Head of the Legislative Department, Department of International Trade Law, Office of Legal Affairs, UNCITRAL, expressed his happiness to be present at Ain Shams University, the prestigious university, speaking on UNCITRAL, a body affiliated with the United Nations General Assembly to promote the continuous harmony and unification of international laws, namely One of the manifestations of friendship between countries, and development will not occur without sustainable economic development. As for the initiative, it was launched by the Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific in 2013 to spread knowledge and international trade laws and aspiration in the past to go beyond the Atlantic Ocean. There will be a great opportunity for Ain Shams University to engage in the initiative with other universities.

In his speech, Walid Bey, deputy for Jerome Fontana, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Cairo, stressed that there is no doubt that today we are facing an emergency resulting from rising temperatures and climate change, and the greatest danger facing societies and fragile states, which suffer the greatest damage, and for the first time we see climate changes cause in conflicts and armed conflicts.

And that in the absence of policies for environmental governance, we must work to have rules that address the damage to the infrastructure, and that there should be respect for these rules.

Dr. Haager Gildish, Chair of the International Law Commission of the African Union, said that participation in this initiative aims to confront climate change and rising temperatures.

The first session dealt with the "international, regional and national framework for climate law", which was chaired by: Prof. Dr. El-Sayed Abdel-Khalek, Professor of Economics and Public Finance, Rapporteur of the Law Sector, and former Minister of Higher Education, and a speech by Prof. Marie Claire Seger, Director of the Center for International Sustainable Development Law, Visiting Professor at the University of Cambridge on the “Global Framework for Climate Law”, Prof. Hager Gildish, Professor of Law, Chair of the International Law Commission of the African Union, on “The African Union’s Climate Change Efforts and Challenges,” Prof. James Dallas, Executive Director of the Energy Law Institute, Queen Mary University speaking on “Diagram of UK Law on Climate Change” . Mr. Adel Maged, Vice President of the Egyptian Court of Cassation, talked on "Climate Justice and its Impact on the Egyptian Legal System" Prof. Basant Abdel Meguid, Legal Adviser to the International Committee of the Red Cross on Climate and Armed Conflicts in the Middle East.

The second session dealt with the substantive aspects of the law and climate change, and the session was chaired by Prof. Dr. Nabil Helmy, Professor of Public International Law and former Dean of the Faculty of Law, Zagazig University, and a member of the Legislative Reform Committee. Majed Qaroub, partner in Qaroub Law Firm on Legislation, Jurisprudence and Sustainable Development, Prof. Hani Zahran, Head of Transactions, Partner at Khudair & Law Firm on “Inter-Legislative Reforms - Renewable Energy Overview” Mr. Francesca Aaronold Doerr, Lecturer, Director, CCLS Institute, Insurance, Shipping and Aviation Law, Queen Mary University, on “Decarbonisation and the Insurance Industry”

Dr. Sherif Al-Atafi, Professor of Law at the Faculty of Law, Ain Shams University, discussed "the legal basis for civil liability arising from environmental damage", Prof. Oliver Fawzy, Director of Forensic Services and Investigations, Mazars Audit, on “Criminal Liability for Environmental Violations – Germany’s Next Sanctions System”

While the third session dealt with: the impact of technology and digitization on sustainable development, the session was chaired by: Dr. Khaled Serry, a faculty member at the Faculty of Law, Ain Shams University, a member of the Board of Directors of the Financial Supervisory Authority and was spoken by Dr. Engy Karim, Instructor at the Faculty of Commerce, Ain Shams University, on “The Opportunities and Challenges of Digitization in Egypt’s Strategy for Sustainable Development” and Dr. Antigone Licotraffiti, Lecturer, and Director of Graduate Studies, Queen Mary University, on "Aviation Technology and Climate Change", Mr. Ahmed Abdel-Fattah, Judge at the Ministry of Justice, speaking on "The Impact of Digitization in Achieving Justice", Dr. Ahmed Amr, Dr. Ahmed El-Feki, Teaching Assistant at the Faculty of Law at the British University in Egypt on “Artificial Intelligence in the State Administrative Apparatus between Prospects for Strengthening Governance and Technical and Legal Challenges”, Mr. Osama Hegazy, Lawyer at Qaroub Law Firm, speaking on “Legal and Economic Obstacles to Digitization and Paths to Overcoming them”

The fourth session, which discussed resolving conflicts related to sustainable development, included a session in partnership with UNCITRAL as part of the UNCITRAL Days Initiative in Africa. The session was chaired by Dr. Mohamed Sameh Amr, Professor and Head of the International Law Department, Faculty of Law, Cairo University and former Egyptian Ambassador to UNESCO, and Dr. Marks Gering, Director of Law Studies at Hugh College, University of Cambridge on “Sustainable Development in Global Investment Law” José Angelo Estrella Faria, Head of Legislative Department, Department of International Trade Law, Office of Legal Affairs (UNCITRAL), on UNCITRAL’s Contribution to Sustainable Development, A . Ismail Selim, Director of the Cairo Regional Center for International Commercial Arbitration CRCICA on “Dispute Resolution in Climate Change Conditions”, Prof. Amr Abbas, Partner and Head of Arbitration Department at Matouk Bassiouni & El Hennawy Law Firm on “The Role of Investment Arbitration in Environmental Protection”

The two-day conference will address environmental protection and efforts to reduce climate change in times of crisis, especially in times of armed conflict, in partnership with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The conference will also address conflicts arising in the context of development, in partnership with the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) as part of its UNCITRAL Days in Africa initiative.