Egypt’s Minister of International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat signed a development financing agreement grant worth €57.7m, on Thursday, with German Ambassador in Cairo Cyrill Nunn.
This comes within the framework of the 2019 Financial and Technical Cooperation agreements signed between the Egyptian and the German side, with the plan of implementing six projects in the sectors of energy efficiency, renewable energy, technical education and vocational training, private sector support, administrative reform, water support, and sanitation.
Minister Al-Mashat noted that these projects will be implemented in cooperation between Egypt’s relevant ministries and the KfW Development Bank, along with the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ).
She added that the Ministry of International Cooperation seeks optimising development cooperation with multilateral and bilateral development partners in order to provide the needed development funds for implementing different projects across Egypt’s sectors, which is also in line with Egypt’s Vision 2030.
The Ministry’s ongoing cooperation portfolio with Germany amounts to €1.7bn, which has funded 30 projects so far either through loans or technical and financial grants benefiting many sectors, including, energy efficiency, renewable energy, water sanitation, development of water resources, solid waste management, migration, labour market, private sector support, technical education, vocational training, urban development and administrative reform, development of women and youth, and community development.
The Minister pointed that the Ministry is working towards advancing global partnerships to promote effective economic and development cooperation with multilateral and bilateral development partners, through the three principles of Economic Diplomacy; Multi Stakeholders Platform (MSP), the Official Development Assistance mapping to the Sustainable Development Goals, and the Global Partnerships Narrative that puts “People at Core” and “Projects in Action,” and “Purpose as the Driver”.
Minister Al-Mashat appreciates the cooperation with Germany, be it at the level of signing financing development agreements in the form of grants between the Ministry of International Cooperation, relevant ministries and the GIZ, or in the form of the projects funded by the Egyptian-German Debt Swap programme and are implemented in cooperation of Egypt’s line ministries and the KfW Development Bank. She reiterated that the partnerships with the German side work towards enhancing joint cooperation within the framework of the country’s development priorities.
For his part, the German Ambassador emphasised the importance of economic and development cooperation with Egypt and the keenness of the German side to enhance this cooperation in the upcoming period so that it would encompass all fields. He expressed how glad he is to sign the two financial and technical cooperation agreements to finance development projects across various sectors.
Nunn praised the MSPs that the Ministry of International Cooperation holds to strengthen partnerships between all development partners, government entities, and the private sector, pointing out the importance of the MSPs in solidifying cooperation efforts between all stakeholders. He expressed his aspiration to conduct field visits to development projects in Egypt that are funded by Germany.
Within the framework of the Egyptian-German Debt Swap programme, the first phase concluded with an amount of €70m, where it managed to implement several projects across the fields of school nurturing, enhancing the quality of education, rehabilitating hydroelectric stations, developing Assiut Barrage, in addition to improving the quality of drinking water and sanitation services. Through the second phase, the German side had made available €10m to the second tranche, benefiting the Ministry of Education supporting the second phase of the Education Quality Support project.
Through the programme’s second tranche, Germany has provided Egypt with EUR 80 million, where several projects have been implemented, one of which is the Investing in Human Capital project in Upper Egypt benefiting the World Food Programme (WFP), in partnership with Egypt’s Ministry of Education.
In November 2020, the Government of Germany has approved to provide Egypt with €80m worth of the third tranche of the second phase of the Swap Programme. Currently, both sides are agreeing on the list of proposed projects to be funded though this tranche.
