Hala El-Said, the Minister of Planning and Economic Development and Egypt’s Governor at the Islamic Development Bank Group, met with Mohamed Ben Sulaiman Al Jasser, the President of the Islamic Development Bank Group, today to discuss the cooperation between Egypt and the Bank.
The meeting was attended by Mai Babiker, the Director of the Bank’s Regional Office in Cairo, Nada Massoud, the Executive Director for Egypt at the Islamic Development Bank, Kamal Nasr, the Assistant Minister of Planning for Technical Office Affairs, and Hazem Khairat, the Minister’s International Cooperation Advisor.
El-Said praised the continuous communication and coordination with the Islamic Development Bank Group in all areas of cooperation between Egypt and the Bank. She highlighted the joint efforts that have led to the implementation of several projects in various fields.
She emphasized the strategic cooperation relations between Egypt and the Islamic Development Bank Group, within the framework of a successful and long-term partnership between the two parties. She said that the Bank is one of the leading strategic development partners for Egypt, with a cooperation portfolio of $20.72bn. The cooperation covers various development fields, such as industry and mining, energy, finance, trade and agriculture, education, health, water and sanitation, real estate, information and communication technology, transportation, and urban development.
El-Said also discussed the existing and proposed areas of cooperation between Egypt and the Islamic Development Bank Group. This includes the collaboration with the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector, a subsidiary of the Bank, and the ways to enhance the cooperation with Egypt’s Sovereign Fund. She said that the latter is the state’s investment arm in new and renewable energy projects, in line with the National Program for Structural Reforms, state ownership documents, and other national plans and strategies aimed at promoting the Egyptian private sector.
Jasser affirmed that the visit is part of strengthening the growing partnership between the Islamic Development Bank and Egypt. He said that they also signed several cooperation agreements to contribute to the implementation of important projects in various fields.
He praised the constructive cooperation between the two parties, which resulted in the approval of two projects in 2023. One of them is a project to enhance the contribution of small and micro-projects to food security, which is the first project approved for Egypt under the Bank’s Food Security Response Programme.
