The bilateral partnership achieves in essence the UN Sustainable Development Goals, serving consequently the National Agenda 2030 through the development financing that has been capitalized by the latest visit’s agreements; Egypt and France have signed last December 3 new financings worth EUR 715.6 million.

Further deliberations are to take place in the upcoming month, during the visit of the French Minster of Finance to Egypt; a lineup of meetings with various Egyptian ministries and governmental institutions are planned in order to finalize the projects details and the financing conditions. The principles of Economic Diplomacy are the core of all multilateral and bilateral cooperation partnerships, Al-Mashat emphasized during the meeting; explaining that the principles consist of the organization of Multi-stakeholder platforms that bring together the development partners and the governmental institutions in order to align objectives, the mapping of the ODA per the UN SDGs ensuring that the development financing is best allocated and utilized in various projects, and the Global Partnerships Narrative that ensures transparency across all communications and with all stakeholders. Romatet emphasized the importance of the Egyptian-French partnership, expressing the success of the Presidential visit to France last month deliberating the sustainable development agenda for both countries. The French economic advisor further elaborated that the Ministry of International Cooperation plays a major role in coordinating the meetings with the Egyptian institutions benefiting from the development financing; namely the ministries of Transportation, Health, Civil Aviation, and Housing. During the presidential visit to France last December, the Minister of International Cooperation, Dr. Rania A. Al-Mashat has signed with the Chief Executive of the Agence Française de Développement a financing agreement worth EUR 715.6 million; supporting the Health, Transportation, Education, and Water sectors. The history of cooperation between both countries dates back to 1974, with economic cooperation portfolio worth EUR 7.5 billion and more than 42 signed protocols covering Transportation, Electricity, Civil Aviation, Housing and Utilities, Health, Agriculture and Irrigation, MSMEs, Environment, Antiquities, and Education. The current cooperation portfolio between Egypt and France rounds up to EUR 1 billion. According to the annual report by the Ministry of International Cooperation in 2020, the ministry secured development financing agreements worth $9.8 billion during the year; $6.7 billion for financing sovereign projects, and $3.1 billion in support of the private sector.