CAIRO — The Miss Eco International 2022 beauty pageant in Cairo brought together contestants from across the world — including Russia and Ukraine. Kathleen Paton from the Philippines was crowned March 17 as Miss Eco International 2022.

The beauty pageant is designed to promote ecotourism in Egypt and the contestants in this year's eighth edition visited tourist attractions and archaeological sites across Egypt, including Luxor and the Great Processional Way (El-Kebash Road), the city of Hurghada, Cairo’s Great Pyramid and the Great Sphinx of Giza. Egypt's Tourism Ministry sponsored the events to promote Egyptian tourist attractions.

Amal Rezk, founder of Miss Eco International, told Al-Monitor that this year's event, the eighth edition of the contest, brought many challenges, particularly the fighting in Ukraine and related complications for flights from Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.

She explained, “Although we did not expect contestants from Russia and Ukraine to participate and travel to Egypt, they managed to do so. Anastasiya Panovaa from Ukraine managed to … cross into Poland. From there, she arrived in Egypt via Turkey." Russian contestant Alina Martynko was already in Turkey before the invasion, she added.