Abstract:
Competitiveness depends on the ability to increase exports in light of the challenges posed by the global market. Therefore, this ability is linked to the promotion of various strategies related to costs, prices, production and export of various goods and services. However, this competitive ability - specifically for Egyptian industries - has faced challenges and obstacles associated with requirements and requirements to achieve sustainable development, especially in light of the growing phenomenon of using environmental standards as non-tariff barriers to the flow of Foreign trade considering that these standards have become a major requirement to protect the environment and consumers in importing countries after environmental problems have reached extreme limits.
The main problem of the research was how to face the environmental challenges of the Egyptian exports penetration to many foreign markets, in light of the strict environmental and health requirements, especially on the part of the major countries.
The research aims at a set of objectives, the most important of which are: identifying the concept of sustainable development and the issues related to its indicators, as well as studying the importance of adherence to global environmental standards for Egyptian exports and their impact on competitiveness, while reaching a future vision to meet the environmental challenges of Egyptian exports and enhance their competitiveness.
The research reached a number of results, the most important of which are:
-      Increasing interest in the relationship between environmental standards and export competitiveness, following the emergence of environmental standards as one of the pressures directed towards the flow of exports in global markets.
-      Strengthening the competitiveness of industries and the observance of environmental rules and standards helps to achieve the sustainable development process.
-      Environmental standards have become a prerequisite for the global acceptance of the country's exports. However, these specifications may constitute promising opportunities for a new start for Egyptian exports, and an important element for marketing consumer goods, especially when they are accompanied by advertising campaigns that focus on highlighting environmental standards.
The research ended with a number of recommendations, the most important of which are:
-      The necessity of state intervention in a way that organizes the market mechanism and stimulates the private sector to integrate the environmental dimension in drawing up productive policies.
-      The need to adopt high transparency in setting environmental standards to achieve the goals for which they were set, and to prevent them from being used as non-tariff barriers to the flow of foreign trade.
-      The necessity of introducing an environmental culture to those responsible for planning export policies and making economic decisions, and working to introduce the environmental dimension into export policies, in order to increase competitiveness and achieve sustainable development on the other hand.
-      Unifying the legislations that address the issue of environmental protection, so that any contradiction or conflict between them is avoided.