(AFP File Photo)
Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb travelled to Kuwait on Sunday for a three-day visit, along with the ministers for investment and housing, and the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) governor.
The Egyptian delegation will meet with Mehleb’s Kuwaiti counterpart, Sheikh Gaber Al-Mubarak, and a group of other ministers to discuss bilateral cooperation, state run news agency MENA reported. Mehleb is also expected to visit Arab Contractors projects in Kuwait.
Kuwait is the third GCC investor in Egypt, following the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, and has supported Egypt with $4bn in financial aid after the Muslim Brotherhood government’s ouster in July 2013.
Kuwait provided Egypt with a $1bn non-refundable grant and a five-year $2bn deposit to the CBE. The Gulf country also supplied Egypt with $1bn worth of petroleum products, bringing the total value of aid from Kuwait to $4bn.
Egypt also signed a KWD 30m loan agreement (approximately $106m) with the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED), which will be used to help finance the Assiut power plant’s upgrade.
President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi visited Kuwait earlier this month, the first visit since his inauguration, to meet with Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to discuss bilateral cooperation and issues of mutual interest.
The Kuwaiti Emir has declared his country’s support for Egypt, whether through the state-owned development fund or the private sector, to overcome the transitional period.
Al-Sisi invited the Kuwaiti Emir to attend the Economic Summit, to be held in Sharm El-Sheikh in March, in the presence of international community leaders and leading financial institutions.
