● Al-Mashat congratulated the Executive Director on her new position and confirmed that Egypt is the gateway for the bank to enhance its expansion in the continent of Africa.
● $558 million in investments made available by the bank to the private sector during the past year
Minister of International Cooperation and Governor of Egypt at the EBRD, H.E. Dr. Rania A. Al-Mashat, met with Katherine Tuck, Executive Director of the Egypt, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand Group, with the participation of the work teams of the Ministry of International Cooperation and the bank, on the sidelines of her participation in the bank’s annual meetings that It was held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, from 16 to 18 May.
At the outset of the meeting, Al-Mashat congratulated her, on assuming the new position as Executive Director of the Egypt, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand Group, and the role she played over the past few months in representing Egypt, pointing out that the Ministry of International Cooperation will ensure continuous coordination, reflecting Egypt’s commitment to development across sectors.
Al-Mashat and the Executive Director of the Board of Directors of the EBRD, called for reviewing the developments in the framework of development cooperation between Egypt and the multilateral and bilateral development partners, by reviewing the annual report of the Ministry for the year 2022, and efforts to map development financing with the UN SDGs, which provides the ability to identify the sources of spending development funds and strengthening the governance framework for decision-making related to development cooperation, explaining that the annual report monitors the various interventions carried out by development partners in various sectors as well as the private sector.
Al-Mashat pointed to the importance of the bank's decision to expand in sub-Saharan Africa and Iraq, and the Egyptian role as a gateway to the African continent, noting the need to increase cooperation with the EBRD in this regard.
H.E. touched on the constructive cooperation between the government and the bank in stimulating development efforts through development funds for the private sector, promoting green transformation efforts, and the importance of advancing this cooperation through the joint country strategy with Egypt 2022-2027, as the bank’s investments that it made available to the private sector during the past year amounted to about $558 million. The two sides also discussed preparations for the visit of the EBRD’s Board of Directors to Egypt next October.
The Arab Republic of Egypt has long-standing development cooperation relations with the EBRD, as it is a founding member and has become a full country of operations for the bank since 2012, which has strengthened the bank’s operations and investments in Egypt for the private and government sectors, to exceed €10 billion in 160 projects, where about 75% of these investments were directed to the private sector.
It is worth noting that the ministry launched the joint country strategy with the EBRD for the period 2022-2027, in early 2022, which works to enhance development efforts and stimulate the private sector, through three axes: Promoting a more inclusive economy for Egyptian businesses, women and youth, Accelerating Egypt’s green economy transition, and Enhancing the country’s competitiveness by supporting private-sector growth and strengthening governance.