A statement upon their arrival into huh. I had the great pleasure of speaking to 7 americans for now free free from their imprisonment or detention in iran out of her on out of prison. And now in doha, on route back to the United States to be reunited with their loved ones. 5 of the 7, of course, had been unjustly detained in prison, dinner on some for years. 2 others had been prevented from leaving a ross. I spoke to them after they landed in doha. I can tell you that it was for them. For me, an emotional conversation to the International Court of justice is harry arguments from russia about ukraine. And you crying about most goes claims that launched its invasion to prevent genocide. Cubic cues as moscow of abusing International Law or by falsely alleging genocides, where United Nations chief antonio gutierrez, has demanded a global risky plan to revive still targets to tackle issues such as hunger, poverty, and Climate Change. He was speaking ahead of the you in General Assembly in new york, the cold for additional funding from wealthy countries to help meet the 2030 deadline. The you in says only 15 percent of the 17 target subpoena changed to reg ripples and over not a site that had seized control of 2 military bases in the town to flurry near the border with more autonomy and violence has escalated. Since you in peacekeeping troops began withdrawing from the north. The pull out was demanded by mollys june to create as say that considering mobilizing was this and have cooled off Independence Day celebrations next week. Because of the headlines, stay tuned. Im counting, the cost is coming up next from intimate moments to major social changes from mans impact on the planet to the impact of mine on himself that he has with depression. And its really asked to give yourself love the witness Award Winning films from around the world on out to 0. The hello, im for the back people. This is counting the cost on al jazeera. Youll look at the world of business and economics this week, giving africa a voice, the group of the welsh 20, the economies adds the African Union as a permanent member, but will be g 20 champion the developing world. Also this week, morocco is a top Tourist Destination and a bright spot for investors. The economy could bear the brunt of the nations biggest surf quake in a century, plus egypt annually. Inflation hits a new record and egyptians feeling the pinch of the rising cost of living. So can the government bring prices that the thank you for joining as african nations a drowning in debt there among the worst hit by the impact of extreme weather and food and security. Yet, africans of long complained about not having to say on issues that affect them the most in global institutions, dominated by wealthy nations. India aims to become a leader of the developing world. Its been pushing the needs of the global south on the wells page since it assumed the rotating presidency of the g 20. And what was the and as a possible recognition of africa status. The group of 20 top world economies added the African Union as a permanent member, the a you, which includes 55. 00 nations with a collective gdp of 3 trillion dollars. Will now have the same status as the e. U in the g. 20 need is also agreed to pursue a tripling Renewable Energy capacity globally by 2030 at the annual summit in you, denny. Other issues hi, on the agenda into the comment financing debt and we forming institutions like the world back. Ok. So what is the g 20 n . Why does it need the African Union at the table . The book consist of 19 nations and the european union. They collectively represent more than 80 percent of the world. So you can all make output the g 20 games to unite global Decision Makers on issues like the economy, politics, health care, and kind of change. But its been criticized for leaving out the needs of the developing world. Until recently, south africa was the only african member of the group. Now we are moving towards a direction that includes those parts of the world that we exclude it. We share a lot of comb on challenges, typically with respect to Climate Change and, and those issues cannot be resolved through, you know, explosive approaches. They have to be as inclusive as they have to include those affect it and those that bad. The most responsibility in guiding the world through this challenges. By granting the a you full membership, the g 20 aims to give a bigger voice to the Global South Africa is home to about 17 percent of the wealth population. The un expects the continents young people of 1300000000 to double by 2050 africa is rich and Renewable Energy resources and minerals, and it attracts investments from different countries, including the us in china. The continent also has the Worlds Largest free trade area, which went back all this. Im not joined from the cox and a gas capitol by doubt us. And ben is a ceo of the Global Development advisory offrey catalyst. Thank you so much, mrs. And ben for joining us. So the g 20 admitting the African Union into the group. Is this real change or address a symbolic move . Any of you . I think it goes beyond the symbolism to me. In my mind. I think its the very good the most uh, it helps actually did. Going to gain more legitimacy. It also help actually in the group becoming margaret preventative and engrossing, by adding the African Union. You ask 55 more congress to default these pre countries that are after guaranteed member of the jeep needs, including the european union. So thats certainly a good move. And finally, i believe was so wed love to the helps that youd want to become even more effective because ive been now you have put on the table a to you to present that people have gone through that tag in sort of affected by major jennings as that did you do any advice to address . So i think that these are very good for both parties, both of the 20 and and do you have to continue . What immediate changes do you expect the African Development bank . The if ftp had repeatedly of course, call for faster action for International Finance architecture reform. Is there not cause to be more optimistic as a result of our, the a, you joining the g 20 blocks. What, what, what is at stake . You think what i think image is really what we can see in the movie gen, welcome use. Actually there is, i think as far as being hurt in the deep learning deliveries and thats the varied but the development. Now i think i wouldnt not actually sort of consider this membership of the African Union at the g 20 as a fantasy. Yes. I think its gonna depend on how the African Union is. Just going to use that status. The not the best, the extent possible to push its as and, and then make sure that the decision that are taken by the g 20 in the line results on priorities. So yes, this is a good move is very on symbolism, because i need is not necessarily going to be there, but i see you, mrs. And ben, as you say, africans will now have a voice, but will they be speaking with one voice . Thats a good question. Because i think what we have seen on youre going to make this list brown that is, that africa has nothing to say. Is that going to be in speech or with the same voice . I think we have seen a lot of the head of state of actually a number of them speaking, but the issue is the very uh no. Okay, is there no need but uh the uh, the uh, the full or the, i think on union has not been necessarily up to the, the been heard on those issues. So i think its going to be important for the body to be able to shape and formulate come on position onto the economy. This was that this will present, that is, will be able to convey to that you do. I dont one day and sit on that on the table. All right, mrs. And ben stay with us. The African Unions admission into the g. 20 comes as india and china, competing for influence in the developing world. Bilateral trade between badging and africa stood at nearly 280000000000. 00 in 2022. While trade between new deli at africa came in just under a 100000000000. The move also comes off to the breaks block, which also includes china and india said it welcomes 6 new nations among wlan, the african states, a few up here and egypt. So mr. Send ben is this announcement you think a win 4 in the i can in the become a leader for the global stuff. You know, i think at least the very big leading father ginger, i think it is under the president of the, of the joining of things. Yeah. That the, this, the union has been able to join that youd like me to do something to celebrate. And so suddenly again, yeah, being most of a member of the bridge, this is something new, something that is going to be very much bleeding out of favor, i believe the country. So yes, i believe this is something that this is very much like them, but i have to say that disease a do something that was actually in the meeting for a long time. Yeah. It wasnt. Yeah, i havent you been . Yes, yes. But what about india and china, will they be complete competing now for influence in the developing world to think . But i dont know if youre talking about, but do you join yeah itself, of course theyre both member they would be able to do so to join as close as these are um developing but i mean on the, on demand specifically youve got a huge try a chinese presence, of course, and the number of countries, but india now slowly going in as well. Are we going to see a competition between these 2 powers on, on the african continent . Well, i believe the type of competition has been underway for a long time. Right. And not only between india and china, but between major and a bowers, both emerging market and advanced economist enough. But i think this is something that is expected to continue regardless of for the day you memberships of said you 20. And then theres also the brakes which aims to champion the global south and represent the count to wait 2 institutions like the g 20. Do you think africa benefits from these competing alliances . But i think that if anything, i think i should be able to leverage these relationship with automates or by what are the data from the breaks or from my or the group in the g 7 that youre going to be able to maximize the opportunity as an interest, i think thats fair. So to begin the best interest of, of the gulf. And i believe it is in the just up to the adobe d, as in our Applicant Congress to be able to make that happen. And certainly being able to deliver it to go to the partnership that are available to the continents. Whether theyre coming from the bid from the do 7 from budget one and i sent you this, what the african countries needs to do that with us. And ben, thank you very much for talking to a status. And ben is the you of the Global Development advisory, a free catalyst, joining us there from the com. Thank you for your time. Thank you very much. Now, separately and vicious project team that boosting trade between europe, the middle east and asia has been announced on the sidelines of the g. 20 summit, the so called Economic Court or link saudi arabia, the united arab emirates, jordan israel, india, and the u. 2 shipping ports and railroads, us present, joe biden have the agreement as a Game Changing investment. It is morocco strong as earthquake in a 120 years. The u. N says at least 300000 people have been affected, as well as a tragic loss of human life. The earthquake has reduced entire villages to revel. The potential cost of the damage could reach up to 10000000000. 00. 8 has been trickling into some of the remote regions where many people lost their loved ones and their livelihoods hush in my head, borrow reports from where gone south of my cash. This was ones a vibrant local community, full of life, joy, im big dreams about tomorrow. Now its all gone. Many people didnt make it. They were buried under the rubble only to be retrieve days later. That this is definitely going to put more strains on the f s by the rocking government when it comes to how to move forward. Its said that is committed to building the entire area and compensating those who lost loved ones and the own businesses. This was a popular tourist attraction, particularly for west interest to enjoy the beautiful landscape, the snow capped mountains, and also tracking the hills surrounding the area. And for that particular reason, many of the people who lived here used to turn comes the old houses into guest houses. Now theyve lost everything. Now we have to wait and see how the government is going to implement its rehabilitation under construction program, because were talking about an economy which has suffered in the past from the impact of cove in 90 and from global inflation. And of this particular stage i yet to get a sense of the total cost of damage and reconstruction effort, which is going to be implemented in the upcoming weeks push him out of counting the cost of the 0 of all the American Economy has been struggling with the impact of the global pandemic, the full out of the war and ukraine and drought. But it was forecast to recover the ca with a g d p growth of more than 3 percent. Ronko will be hosting world bank and i m f meetings in october. The earthquake could read the rail, got recovery, the Us Geological survey estimates the damage with costs up to 8 percent of the countries g d p. The quake is damaged, narrow cash at the top, 2 or is destination. Tourism is one of the main drivers of the economy and is among the sectors expected to be affected. Thousands of traditional houses in remote, rural villages were destroyed. The majority of them are likely not covered by insurance, the government displaced to provide funding to households to rebuild their homes. Joining us now from robot in morocco is laughing, had died. Hes the senator and an Economic Expert and former minister. Thank you very much for joining us, mr. Had that on counting the cost of the disaster has certainly seemed to have put the spotlight on moroccos income in equality and infrastructure development. Rural areas were already vulnerable and are among the hottest hedge by this earthquake. Many homes, as we said, were not insured. The disaster, it seems as only amplified some of the justices and in the qualities that already existed. Can you tell us 1st about the areas that are affected by this earthquake and the issues they were already facing before the disaster . While i think that there is a big disparity between the rural areas and the urban areas when it comes to development and Human Development and access to social services, thats in morocco in general. But there is another kind of disparity between the mountainous areas and other areas which are also room. So if you go to the plains and then you go to the mountains, youre find the type of disparity. And then the high plus is compounded by the fact that its very high people live in very small hamlets on top of the elevations, you know, the historically, to protect themselves. Theyve created this culture of wanting to be like isolated. So it was a kind of different, i mean i get difficult, its kind of process of trying to bring those kinds of communities up to speed. So the governments hasnt been a lot of schools that a lot of the spanish threes. I mean, there is a huge promising and also in this program, also building roads and all of that so that they have been in, in a better shape than they were like 20 years ago. But still they have not, they have not yet kept up with get the rest of the rural areas, let alone with the urban area. Its a very traditional kind of localized kind of culture in the high up less mounts and suffering. Little bit of from isolation, despite the different kinds of programs that have been consented by disciplining governments in local. So a traditional way of life in these very close knit communities, it would seem not. The moroccan government has been criticized somewhat for accepting limited age during this earthquake. They say too much a good cause bottlenecks, of course. Is it for logistical reasons as the American Government says, professor lawson died or are politics also at play here . Some of the accused the government of putting politics, perhaps the for the wellbeing of moroccan people by accepting aid from only a certain number of countries. Want to say that morocco has blocked aid for political reasons, the wrong. And i think its also like are just on immoral kind of attitude. I dont think that happens and people will know they had less montez know that its very, very different the to get to access, to get at, to get to those kinds of communities. So you talk to them or i can get are meant like about 3 or 4 days to clear the roads from the rubble that so as a result of the earthquake. And then after shocks like created more problems. So which was very difficult. Some of the machine are able to lift it on the huge kind of trucks to take it that they use the use behind the cup to get to the community is there is no use of gets in humanitarian aid. Waiting at the foothills of the french mountains like 4 or 4 or 5 days. And we dont know what the needs of those kinds of those community just. So the more i can give them it hasnt enough resources to deal with this situation. But do you, do you think it might derailed economic recovery that morocco has been experiencing before this disaster . While i think, i think also its unfortunate just for them or i could to, to bring to those kinds of communities up to speed. The nice thing, keep we invest in the i plus mountains and then create like huge economic dynamics. By the way, the city of markets does not have been hit. And so the sense of markets continues to do business as usual. And then each would it be always a look how much of floor tourism and that kind of region. And if the high atlas mountain then we were built, its very construction. All of that, its sending, fortunately for American Economy in that kind of region to contribute to the national effort. I think we have the American Economy has reached a level of whether it has enough resilience. I mean, this is, this is a huge, this is big. Its going to take a lot of effort and still going to take a little bit of a total on the growth, but i dont think its going to be a big one. And on the longer run is going to be like something. An important issue for sort of better growth for those kinds of regions, professor less than her dad. Thank you so much for joining us on counting the calls. Thank you for your time. Thank you. A devastating floods of killed thousands of people with many still missing in the coastal libyan city of during a heavy rainfall last week caused 2 dimes to burst areas which were already struggling with limited infrastructure, have now been completely destroyed. We spoke to dr. High nation need, who is originally from dana, is also the president of the National Council and us libya relations. He says the scale of the devastation is unprecedented. This is a city that is cut off completely from the world. It is beleaguered by the fact that there is no proper governance simply be a in a failed state that has travelled over the last 12 years and unable to basically provide the basic structure in a stable condition. Let alone a disaster that has happened very quickly. And during the tragedy that is happening in there is not only the apps and from the international community, but its also theres some challenges in reaching out to inform the world of what is happening in the city today. Now from food to medical services and housing prices. In egypt have rocketed in the past year, many options, particularly among the working classes struggling to keep up with the rising cost of living. Media food are poor and 1000000 c a. They could be pushed into poverty. Lets take a look at the figures as we can see here, Consumer Prices in urban areas rose to almost 40 percent in august, according to the state run, kept most sophistic agency. Thats more than double what it was a year ago. The agency says the main drivers of inflation were food and beverage up by almost 72 percent restaurant and Hotel Services up by nearly 50 percent. While transportation rolls by 15 percent by egypt is facing one of its worst economic crisis in decades. Worse and by the full lot of russias invasion of ukraine, both nations are main suppliers to egypt, which is the Worlds Largest wage. In puerto, the war has pushed the prices of basic commodities up globally. The gibson government is short of foreign currency and struggling to pay for invoice. Businesses and households are forced to pay more to by dollars at the black market. Joining us now from cairo is the red s my book. Shes the director of egypt and horn of Africa Program at the middle east institute. You right, thank you so much for joining us on counting the cost. Whats driving this increase in prices . Weve heard about some of the external factors. What are the internal factors . The closest, the reflection of it basically to save the world though, but in some cases that aggravated by, by particular particular factors in egypt. Its really a matter of 3 things, but overlay touch to the evaluation that you were just talking about. One, there is a, a decrease in the supply of goods, and thats because of the evaluation. But there are enough of a dollars on the market to buy some things to there is an increase in production costs, and thats for exactly the same problem. And then there has been a rise, put them on some goods. And so this is, and all of that is complicated by the fact that egypt is a country that essentially the inputs significantly more than the next bulbs. And therefore, we havent been enough dollars on the market to buy the things that you need to try and produce what you need a buy, what you need or sell what you need that you have. Uh then you have a significant crunch. Yeah, some of also blamed to here at egypt, economic model with the military paying a key role, controlling large sectors of the economy, borrowing for prestige projects, with limited economic benefits. To what extent has economic mismanagement also contributed to the current predict predicament, egypt finds itself. So i dont think its any secret that a large part of age. I mean the officer at the, after the russian invasion of you pray and you had an economic global down to this positive, just hit egypt. Its just the egypt economic policies and priorities made it particularly vulnerable to this kind of problem. And i dont really think that its any secret that a large chunk of that problem was the state which includes the military, the states over involvement in the economy. And as a matter of facts during the, the last reaching the i m f for the last loan, that egypt negotiated from the uh, negotiated volume as a major condition. The fun tub was to the state to step back from the state, which includes the military step back from the troll in the economy that what merits stay with us. Lets take a look at some of those. Im if conditions a bit close to now the i mess is demanding a shift to a Flexible Exchange rate among other reforms as part of a 3000000000. 00 bailout package for egypt. Investors mainly in the gulf, want to see a cheaper pound before buying at the junction state assets. But to be just shouldnt government has warrant karen . Seed evaluations could push twice as higher and heard people whose incomes the gyptian pound has lost half of its value since march of 2022. So me read will the government eventually shift towards a Flexible Exchange rate and would that affect inflation, edits, foreign currency visits. Yes. And yes thats, thats the short term. So the longer on sir is the government and somebody immediately devalued about 3 times and then stopped because the quite factory that was enough dollars on the market for it to be able to continue to the value safely. And the i m f, realize this, that which is why the, the review with that was supposed to be the 1st review that was supposed to be done on the i the slow months ago. And its been delayed and delayed from plate. I mean, the i, m f is aware of the circumstances now. Eventually egypt is going to have to be 5. You will get my guess it will be, my guess is it will be later this year sometime in winter before. Well, before the end of the try, but its been a pellet house just because the one to enough dollars on the market. But yes its, its going to have to be value. Right. Um, you know, and theyre out there all benefits to this are a lot of benefits to this, particularly on the export side right now, even before this crisis may read 30 percent of age of sions, were living below the poverty line according to the world bank and i wonder how has the high inflation rate affected the average, which i division, citizens, daily life. Its hips, everybody. But obviously if, if youre in the top 2 percent of the uh, assessor economic straw to then you all know can district more, you want more cushion. But for everyone else, its meant that a lot of things have have to come off the table. There are people who could no longer full meet there are people no longer full chicken people up making constant choices over what they can can put on the market. On the table, sorry of what they kind of cant find for the children. And its especially bad for the, i mean if youll say and you need medicines that because of the dollar shortage, there are a lot of important practices that are no longer available. So its your parents have felt this crunch in every slice of life. Its been extremely difficult. Yeah. Me. Right, thank you so much for sharing light on the situation in egypt that for us me. Right. And i broke director of egypt and one of Africa Program at the middle east institute in kyle, thank you very much for being on counting the cost and that is all show for this week and get in touch with us on x. Im actually by a j e, and do use the hash tag a j c. When you take or drop us an e mail account in the call set out, is there a dot net is our address. But theres more for you online, of course that ill just hear a dot com slash ctc. That will take you straight to our page, which has individual reports, link, sending, tie episodes for you to catch up on. That fateful this edition of counting the calls from fully back to go from the whole team. Thanks for joining us. News is next on out just here. The on the getting to buy deals, the friend who public his loan proclaimed, but just would ease more than friends in a full pot series, the big picture takes and in depth ness france insight episode one on l to sierra the 5 us prison is free by a ron alive and doug hom. Details requires washington to release 5 iranians and unfreeze 6 infiniti in dollars. The optimal cry, this is l g 0 live from also coming up. 6 People Killed in the drawing attack and targeting an airport was in the north of a rock of ice off in the high rush objects to the you