In a tweet, Al-Mashat wrote, “Congratulations @heikeharmgart, recognized as one of the Middle East’s Power Businesswomen by @ForbesME, Heike is a true champion of international cooperation and multilateralism.”

Among a list of 50 other women, Forbes Middle East revealed on Thursday the year’s annual ranking which “comes off the back of one of the most challenging years that most companies have experienced in recent history,” as it states on its website. Hailing from 19 countries across 16 sectors, ranging from multinational companies to private companies, Egypt ranked first with the most entries in the list with eight, followed by the U.A.E with seven. To build back a more resilient economy post COVID-19, Egypt’s Ministry of International Cooperation is pushing the frontiers of collaboration with multilateral and bilateral partners to design financing initiatives through a common multi-stakeholder platform and support inclusive growth that is in line with the National 2030 Agenda and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Galvanizing growth and creating a new landscape for green recovery and job creation in the market, Egypt’s partnership with the EBRD played an indispensable role in building back better to address significant short-term and long-term challenges such as unemployment and climate change. In early January, it was announced that Egypt tops EBRD’s SEMED countries of operation development financing investment in 2020, accounting for more than €1 billion of the €2.13 billion of the total development financing provided to SEMED countries. In October 2020, Al-Mashat participated in the annual European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Bank (EBRD) meetings to chart the Bank’s strategy for the next 5 years, which aims to bolster a resilient economy through accelerating green investment, as the EBRD is poised to become a majority green bank by 2025 and increase green financing to at least 50% of its total financing by 2025. The Bank’s Strategic and Capital Framework (SCF) 2021-25 focuses on three main pillars: transition to a green, low carbon economy, equality of opportunity for women and youth, and digital transition. Egypt is a founding member of the EBRD. Since the start of the Bank’s operations in 2012, the EBRD has invested over €7.1 billion in more than 125 projects in the country, with a total private sector share of 74%. 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.