European Investment Bank (EIB) Vice President Gelsomina Vigliotti will be going on a four-day visit to Egypt this week to strengthen cooperation with Egyptian public and private partners and discuss future EIB priority investments in many sectors.
This will be Vigliotti’s first high-level visit to Egypt as EIB VP for the Mashreq region since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Over the last 41 years, the EIB has provided more than €14bn for energy, water, agriculture, telecom, transport, and private sector investment in Egypt. Last year, the EIB provided more than €1bn for business, telecom, and transport investment in Egypt.
“The EIB is a key partner for Egypt, and I welcome VP Vigliotti on her first official visit to our country. The excellent cooperation between Egyptian and EIB experts to unlock the EIB’s unique financial and technical expertise is strengthening private sector growth and accelerating transformational investment across our country,” said Minister of International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat.
“The EIB and the EU Bank is committed to supporting transformational private and public investment across Egypt, improving access to finance by entrepreneurs and addressing the challenges of a changing climate. Egypt is the leading country of operation for the EIB outside of Europe. My financial and technical colleagues and I look forward to discussing how to strengthen economic resilience to existing and new challenges and enhancing the impact of future EIB engagement in Egypt,” said Vigliotti.
“The EU and its financial institutions are strong partners with Egypt, and this week’s visit by the EIB Vice President is an opportunity to discuss means to strengthen joint cooperation,” said Ambassador Christian Berger, Head of the EU Delegation to Egypt.
Whilst in Cairo, VP Vigliotti is expected to visit Egyptian businesses backed by EIB financing in cooperation with Egyptian banks.
The EIB is the world’s largest financier for renewable energy and over the last decade provided €5.4bn to access energy and generate clean energy across Africa.
The visit will also provide an opportunity to discuss future cooperation between the EIB and Egypt to increase production of renewable energy and further strengthen environmental protection and technical cooperation ahead of the UN Conference of Parties on Climate Change (COP 27) taking place in Sharm El-Sheikh in November.
The EIB delegation will also discuss ongoing and future water investments in Egypt. The EIB is the largest global financier for water investment; in Egypt, the EIB has provided more than €1 billion for 13 water and wastewater projects.
Moreover, the EIB has increased support for business investment in Egypt, across Africa, and around the world to enable companies to better tackle challenges triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since the start of the COVID pandemic, the EIB has provided more than €1.6bn for investment by Egyptian entrepreneurs and businesses in cooperation with local banking partners.
The EIB’s office in Cairo was opened in 2003 as the first EIB office outside the EU and is currently one of nine permanent representations across the continent.
