The visit included the participation of the EBRD’s team in Egypt, and was part of Renaud-Basso's first trip to Egypt and the region, where she witnessed several activities, events and agreements within the framework of cooperation between Egypt and the bank.
The Minister of International Cooperation H.E. Dr. Rania A. Al-Mashat accompanied Odile Renaud-Basso, President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), on a visit to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC) and the Royal Mummies Hall in Fustat. The visit included the participation of the EBRD’s team in Egypt, and was part of Renaud-Basso's first trip to Egypt and the region, where she witnessed several activities, events and agreements within the framework of cooperation between Egypt and the bank. Al-Mashat and Renaud-Basso visited all of the NMEC’s halls and listened to explanations from officials at the museum on the history of the artifacts displayed. The halls across the museum display the entire history of Egyptian civilization covering different eras and housing over 50 thousand artifacts. The tourism and antiquities sector is one of the sectors that has joint cooperation with the EBRD. Last January, the Ministries of Tourism and Antiquities, and International Cooperation launched a technical support program, “The COVID-19 Tourism Recovery Cooperation Package” to develop human resources in Egypt’s tourism sector in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. This was done alongside the EBRD and the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) aiming to build the capacities of individuals working in the sector while developing administrative structures in the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities and the private tourism sector, and in developing tourism promotion policy mechanisms. The President of the EBRD visited Egypt on April 21 and 22 where she also met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, and signed a number of joint cooperation agreements with the government and the private sector. She also inspected various development projects that the EBRD has contributed to implementing. Since the start of its operations in Egypt in 2012, the EBRD has invested over €7.2 billion with the implementation of 127 projects. This includes investments in the financial sector, agricultural industries, and manufacturing and services. This is in addition to infrastructure projects in the energy, water, sanitation, and transportation sectors.