● Al-Mashat stresses the importance of convening the “New Global Financial Pact” to enhance the financial capacity of developing countries and emerging economies.
The Minister of International Cooperation, H.E. Dr. Rania A. Al-Mashat, continued her bilateral meetings with multilateral and bilateral development partners, within the activities of the annual meetings of the AfDB in Sharm El-Sheikh, where she met Rémy Rioux, Executive Director of the AFD and Clémence Vidal de la Blache, Country Director of the AFD in Egypt, where the two sides discussed the ongoing development cooperation portfolio and the projects to be implemented. They also looked into “New Global Financial Pact” upcoming event that will be held next June in Paris, in light of the growing global call to reconsider international financing during COP27, which is taking place in cooperation with the G7 Presidency, the G20 Presidency, and the COP28 Climate Conference Presidency.
During the meeting, Al-Mashat pointed out the importance of the summit in light of global successive crises, especially at the level of food and energy security challenges and their impact on developing countries and emerging economies, and the need to promote development and climate action by mobilizing innovative finance.
Al-Mashat stressed that bridging the financing gap that developing countries and emerging economies suffer from, requires moving forward with the reforms of the multilateral development banks and reconsidering the criteria for evaluating these institutions, to stimulate concessional financing in order to enhance private sector investments.
The two sides also discussed preparations for sharing Egypt's pioneering experience in promoting climate finance and green investments, through the launch of the Nexus for Water, Food and Energy platform, the "NWFE" program, which is a regional and international model aimed at stimulating climate action and achieving the concept of fair financing.
Moreover, the two sides touched on the economic cooperation relations, and the position of implementing the ongoing projects and future projects to support the national development agenda was discussed. During the visit of the French Minister of Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire, in June 2021, new development financing agreements were signed in light of the 2021-2025 strategy worth €1.76 billion; Including €776 million from the French treasury and €990 million from the AFD. During the past year, the Ministry of International Cooperation and the AFD launched a new partnership framework until 2025, which falls under the slogan "Towards Common Prosperity". The new country strategy aims to achieve three main priority pillars: Fostering the integration of Egyptian financial, trade and industrial systems at the regional and continental scales; Supporting the development of efficient, green and inclusive network and social infrastructure at the national scale; and Promoting fair, inclusive and sustainable territorial development at the local scale.
It is worth noting that since the signing of the framework between the government and the AFD in 2006, the agency has made available more than €3 billion in concessional development finance for the government and private sectors, in addition to €12.6 million in grants, and it also manages grants from the European Union amounting to €150 million, to finance environment, housing, energy, transportation, agriculture, small and medium enterprises, health and antiquities projects.