● Al-Mashat: We shall coordinate with ministries to strengthen international partnerships aimed at integrating with the state’s efforts to achieve food security.
Today, the House of Representatives, headed by Hanafi Jabali, approved in its plenary session three agreements related to the Ministry of International Cooperation, which are:
1- Decision of the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt No. 524 of 2023 approving a draft agreement for a grant with €56,742,858 to develop the storage capacities of wheat silos from the French Development Agency (AFD).
2- Decision of the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt No. 555 of 2023 approving the Arab Republic of Egypt’s subscription to the 16th replenishment of the African Development Fund’s resources at a value of $2 million.
3- Decision of the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt No. 569 of 2023 regarding approval of letters amending some agreements with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) regarding transitioning from LIBOR as a reference interest rate and replacing it with SOFR.
Commenting on the first agreement, the Minister of International Cooperation, H.E. Dr. Rania A. Al-Mashat, said that in light of the government’s program and strategy to enhance food security, the Ministry of International Cooperation is working, through international partnerships with multilateral and bilateral development partners, to enhance the development efforts made in this sector through development funds and technical support, as the funds made available by the Ministry to the supply sector and its projects through development partners amount to about $538 million.
Al-Mashat also stressed the full coordination between the Ministry of International Cooperation and the Ministry of Supply, to enhance international partnerships aimed at integrating with the state’s efforts to achieve food security, as the joint coordination cooperation platform for the supply sector was held under the title “Sustainable Value Chains: Towards Achieving Food Security,” with the participation of relevant parties to present the sector’s plan and the strategy for developing the sustainable value chain in the wheat sector to stimulate the participation of development partners in financing these projects.
Regarding the approval of “the Arab Republic of Egypt’s subscription to the sixteenth replenishment of the African Development Fund’s resources at a value of $2 million”; Al-Mashat said that the African Development Bank (AfDB) is one of Egypt's main development partners. Since its establishment, the Bank has contributed to financing a number of important development projects in various sectors through development financing, grants and technical assistance provided by it, and has provided more than $6 billion in development financing, including more than a billion dollars to finance 24 private sector operations.
Within the framework of approving letters to “amend some agreements with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank regarding transitioning from LIBOR as a reference interest rate and replacing it with SOFR”; Al-Mashat stressed Egypt’s strategic partnership with the AIIB and the diversification of areas of cooperation and expansion in various priority sectors for the state, noting that signing the agreement to abandon the reference interest rate “LIBOR” is the approach taken by the rest of the other international institutions.
It is worth noting that Egypt is the largest shareholder of the African continent and the first founding member of the continent in the AIIB.