● Minister of International Cooperation: The scale of the challenges facing the African continent is increasing due to its impact on global events. Despite this, Egypt is contributing to efforts to implement the continent’s development aspirations, whether at the bilateral level or through the presidency of the entities and agencies affiliated with the African Union.
● Minister of International Cooperation: The projects included in Egypt’s Country Platform for the NWFE Program achieve many goals, the most important of which is moving forward towards comprehensive development.
● H.E. Dr. Rania A. Al-Mashat: The objectives of launching the Country Platform for the NWFE Program, extend beyond the national level, positioning it as an international model and approach for national platforms aimed at mobilizing climate finance.
● H.E. Dr. Rania A. Al-Mashat: The “Sharm El-Sheikh Guidebook for Just Financing” aims to enhance access to finance, both qualitatively and quantitatively, through 12 principles centered around country ownership, just pathways to climate finance, and governance.
● The Minister reviewed the most prominent aspects of the partnership between the Arab Republic of Egypt and Europe within the framework of the “Team Europe” initiative.
● H.E. Dr. Rania A. Al-Mashat: The Ministry of International Cooperation is working to develop an integrated framework for development cooperation, creating an umbrella under which all strategies with multilateral and bilateral development partners are included, thus enhancing integration in the efforts made and maximizing the benefit of development financing in meeting the priorities of the Government of Egypt.
The Minister of International Cooperation H.E. Dr. Rania A. Al-Mashat delivered Egypt’s speech at the Italian-African Summit in Rome, on behalf of H.E. President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt.
During H.E,’s speech, the Minister of International Cooperation conveyed the greetings and appreciation of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to the Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni. She also conveyed to the participants the greetings and appreciation of President El-Sisi, and his hopes that the Italian-African Summit would contribute towards pushing growth and achieving development priorities across the African continent.
The Minister expressed her appreciation in attending the summit, and the launch of the economic "Mattei Plan", where H.E. highlighted the importance to hold further discussions to determine areas of interest and the countries that will be included in its framework, ensuring a formulation that achieves the common benefits of Africa and Italy. Moreover, H.E. noted that the areas of the "Mattei Plan" already represent Egypt’s main priority sectors for cooperation, such as education and training, health, water and sanitation, agriculture, energy, and infrastructure.
The "Mattei Plan" for Africa is a strategic initiative aimed at strengthening relations between Italy and Africa, and more broadly between the European Union and African countries, with a particular focus on the energy sector.
The Minister of International Cooperation said that Egypt contributes to efforts to implement the development aspirations of the African continent, whether at the bilateral level or through the presidency of the entities and agencies affiliated with the African Union. This is especially the case as H.E. President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt chairs the steering committee of the African Union Development Agency-NEPAD (AUDA-NEPAD) for 2023 to 2025, as this agency represents an important platform for holding discussions on the development needs of the African continent.
The Minister explained that the scale of challenges facing the African continent is increasing, due to its impact on global events. According to World Food Programme (WFP) statistics, 20% of Africa’s population suffers from a lack of food security, and World Bank statistics also indicate that the African continent needs nearly $100 billion dollars annually to bridge the financing gap associated with infrastructure projects. Inevitably, this requires intensive coordination effort between African countries, international partners, and relevant regional and international organizations.
The Minister added that the continent of Africa is also one of the regions most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, which necessitates the need to strengthen the collective efforts that must be undertaken to ensure the enhancement of food and water security, the preservation of the continent of Africa and the confrontation of the repercussions of climate change, in the backdrop of ongoing global, successive crises that began with the COVID-19 pandemic and the effects of climate change.
During the speech, the Minister indicated the need to implement pledges, and for the decisions taken to include all groups most in need of securing livelihoods and ensuring that they are not affected by climate change. H.E. also stressed the need for the policies followed by governments, countries and institutions to take into account the importance of digital transformation to promote sustainable practices in the agricultural, industrial and other sectors. This enhances productivity in the aforementioned sectors and reduces emissions, in addition to prioritizing environmental standards and climate action in policies to promote the transition to a green economy.
In this context, Al-Mashat referred to Egypt’s Country Platform for the Nexus of Water, Food and Energy (NWFE Program), which aims to implement the National Strategy for Climate Change 2050, the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and stimulating green transformation efforts in Egypt. This is done by mobilizing concessional development financing, technical support grants, and private sector investments, during which a comprehensive, green, and digital approach was followed, focusing on priority projects in the water, food, and energy sectors, and benefiting from international partnerships to move from pledges to implementation.
Al-Mashat explained that the projects included within the NWFE program, achieve many goals, the most important of which is moving forward towards comprehensive development in various parts of Egypt, through mitigation and adaptation projects. This includes the implementation of water desalination projects, supporting the capabilities of small farmers to adapt to the repercussions of climate change, increasing agricultural crop productivity and farmers’ incomes through the use of modern technology and clean energy, and benefiting from innovative financing tools to mobilize investments worth $14.7 billion.
Al-Mashat added that the objectives of launching the NWFE Program, extend beyond the national level to the scope of the African continent and the entire world, through which Egypt sets a regional and international model, and approach for national platforms aimed at mobilizing climate finance, and providing the financing needs for implementing the NDCs.
Additionally, Al-Mashat referred to the “Sharm El-Sheikh Guidebook for Just Financing,” which Egypt launched at COP27, in partnership with more than 100 relevant entities from government agencies, the private sector, development partners, think tanks and research centers, international institutions, and investment and commercial banks. The guidebook aims to enhance the effectiveness of just climate financing efforts through cooperation with various parties in order to enhance the goals of the climate conference and move from pledges to implementation.
The Minister said that the “Sharm El-Sheikh Guidebook for Just Financing” aims to enhance the ability to access finance, both qualitatively and quantitatively, through 12 principles that were developed centered around country ownership, just pathways to climate finance, and governance.
Al-Mashat continued: “Despite the prevailing perception that emerging economies and developing countries do not have projects that stimulate investments, the guidebook has monitored 48 successful practices in various fields of development in developing and emerging countries, which reflects the existence of realistic models that stimulate climate investment.”
Al-Mashat indicated that the 10th Egyptian-European Association Council was held in Brussels a few days ago, reviewing the most prominent aspects of the partnership between the Arab Republic of Egypt and the European side, within the framework of the “Team Europe” initiative, which defines the form of cooperation and joint work between the two sides since its launch in 2020. In light of the historical relations between Egypt and the European Union, and their impact on development efforts; The European Union launched the Team Europe initiative in 2020, with the aim of coordinating and mobilizing European efforts to confront the COVID-19 pandemic, before turning to the EU’s new tool and approach to mobilize financial resources and development funds from European countries and institutions, to support the implementation of the economic and investment plan for the southern neighboring countries, including Egypt. From 2021 to 2027, the Team Europe initiative includes many multilateral and bilateral partners, including the European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the German International Cooperation Agency (GIZ), the French Development Agency (AFD), the German Construction Bank, the Italian Development Agency, and the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), in addition to the European Union and Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, and others.
Additionally, Al-Mashat referred to Egypt’s vision to strengthen economic relations with multilateral and bilateral development partners at the regional and international levels, and to mobilize supportive efforts to achieve economic development in all sectors, as the Ministry of International Cooperation is working to develop an integrated framework for development cooperation, creating an umbrella under which all strategies with multilateral and bilateral development partners are included, thus enhancing integration in the efforts made and maximizing the benefit of development financing in meeting the priorities of the Government of Egypt. This reflects stimulating transparency, comprehensiveness and integration, and maximizing concessional development funds to achieve development, enhance climate action, and expand private sector support mechanisms.
Al-Mashat also explained that the national strategy for international cooperation and development financing is based on three main foundations: mapping the paths of international cooperation and development financing with national development priorities to enhance the impact of international partnerships and in turn, contribute to achieving national development and the SDGs; enhancing the methodology for managing and governing the development financing file, which will focus on achieving development results with a tangible and measurable impact and included within the strategy of the Egyptian state; and following-up on ongoing and new projects and mapping them with national priorities on an ongoing basis, and that the strategy represents a comprehensive framework for formulating strategic planning processes for Egypt's bilateral and multilateral development partners.