The Minister of International Cooperation,H.E. Dr. Rania A. Al-Mashat, met with Georg Pöstinger, the new Austrian Ambassador to Cairo, in light of the role played by the Ministry of International Cooperation to strengthen economic relations with multilateral and bilateral development partners, countries, and regional and international organizations.
At the beginning of the meeting, Al-Mashat welcomed the Austrian ambassador to Cairo, wishing him success in his new mission in order to strengthen relations between the two countries, noting the remarkable progress in Egyptian-Austrian relations based on the directives of the leadership of the two countries and the Egyptian government’s keenness to strengthen joint relations at all levels with friendly countries.
The two sides discussed preparations for the third session of the joint Egyptian-Austrian committee, which was held only twice in 2001 and 2005, stressing that the government is working to enhance aspects of joint cooperation with the Austrian side in various priority areas in order to achieve common interests, especially in sectors of common interest such as transportation, sanitation, water desalination, energy, electricity, digitalization, vocational training, and others.
H.E. also discussed with the Austrian Ambassador strengthening joint cooperation in the field of exchanging experiences in the field of international development cooperation, noting the role that the Ministry plays in consolidating joint economic relations with multilateral and bilateral development partners, international institutions, multilateral development banks, and regional and international organizations.
Al-Mashat applauded the strong bilateral economic cooperation between the Arab Republic of Egypt and the Republic of Austria, especially after the signing of the letter of intent between the two sides last April 2023, with the aim of expanding and strengthening relations between the two countries in the fields of economic, commercial and technical cooperation within the framework of the Joint Committee for Economic Cooperation.
H.E. reviewed the role played by the Ministry of International Cooperation to strengthen joint relations through the principles of economic diplomacy of the Arab Republic of Egypt, which aims to maximize the economic and social benefit from development financing, ensure the consistency of development projects with national priorities and sustainable development goals, and improve the management of development cooperation to implement projects effectively; Egypt’s Economic Diplomacy is based on three principles: hosting multi-stakeholder platform meetings to enhance cooperation with multilateral and bilateral development partners, mapping official development assistance (ODA) to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the Global Partnerships Narrative which puts People at the Core, Projects in Action, and Purpose as the driver.
Al-Mashat stressed the importance of convening the joint committee as well as the business forum to develop relations between the chambers of commerce and business councils from the two countries, to promote common development.
Al-Mashat also participated in the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber conference as part of the Austrian Export Day 2023 activities, with the participation of thousands of private sector companies, in the Austrian capital, Vienna, last June.
The history of economic cooperation between the Arab Republic of Egypt and the Republic of Austria dates back to 1975 when the two countries signed an agreement for economic and technical cooperation.
Following Austria's membership into the European Union, a new agreement for economic and technical cooperation was signed in 1996, within which two sessions of the Egyptian-Austrian joint committee were held in 2001 and 2005, and the two committees resulted in the signing of a protocol that includes the most important things that were agreed upon between the two parties regarding the development of economic and technical cooperation relations.
On the sidelines of the Egyptian-Austrian Business Forum, which Cairo hosted last April, H.E. Dr. Mostafa Madbouly, Prime Minister of Egypt, and Karl Nehammer, Federal Chancellor of the Republic of Austria, witnessed the signing ceremony of a letter of intent regarding enhancing economic cooperation between Egypt and the Federal Ministry of Labor and Economy of the Republic of Austria as part of the Joint Economic Committee, and within the framework of the strong bilateral economic relations between Egypt and Austria, and the desire to increase economic cooperation. The letter of intent was signed by Al-Mashat, and Ambassador Peter Lönski Tiefenthal, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Austria.