Rania Al-Mashat, Egypt’s Minister of International Cooperation, has met with Walid Labadi, Country Director for Egypt, Yemen, and Libya at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), to discuss development cooperation programmes and areas of joint cooperation in the coming period within the framework of the country’s development priorities such as renewable energy, transportation, wastewater management, and desalination.
Al-Mashat praised the fruitful cooperation with the IFC, where the current portfolio amounts to $1.26bn.
IFC injected $1bn fund in several sectors in Egypt, such as financial markets, agricultural and forestry businesses, health, education, life sciences, and others, that worked to enhance integration with the government’s efforts to enhance the participation of the private sector in development.
Al-Mashat indicated that, as of September 2021, the IFC`s portfolio in Egypt reached $30.2m in the areas of electrical energy, economic development of the private sector, environment, governance, gender, finance and insurance, transportation and storage, healthcare, chemicals, wholesale and retail trade, textiles, clothing and leather, collective investment vehicles, manufacturing, agribusiness, and consulting services.
Al-Mashat praised that the IFC pumped development funds to the private sector during the past year, amounting to $421 m, while its total investments during the last decade amounted to about $4 bn, which pushed the efforts made by the private sector in various development projects.
She pointed out that Egypt was able to withstand the Corona pandemic to achieve positive growth thanks to what is being achieved at the level of development projects through partnership between the public and private sectors.
For his part, Labadi, stressed that IFC aims to create a market for renewable energy in Egypt by benefiting from the expertise and financial influence of the private sector.
Labadi praised the participation of the Ministries of International Cooperation and Industry in the Sustainable Finance Forum last October, which discussed sustainable finance and how it can transform African economies by stimulating economic growth, promoting gender inclusion, and preserving the environment.
Labadi pointed to the launch of a project to develop supply chains and add value for the pure textile sector in Egypt, to attract investments worth $800m, in cooperation with the IFC and the Chamber of Ready Made Garments and Textiles.
