• The meeting discusses ongoing partnerships to prepare a study on encouraging foreign direct investment, industry development, and technical support for the management of state-owned enterprises.
• Al-Mashat calls for the World Bank to play a bigger role as a knowledge bank to focus on the sectors that most drive growth
• The Managing Director of the World Bank applauds the results achieved by economic reform policies in Egypt
During the IMF and World Bank spring meetings in Washington DC, Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of International Cooperation, held a meeting with Anna Bjerde, Managing Director of the World Bank Group for Operations. This was in the presence of Mr. Abdulaziz Al-Mulla, Executive Director of the World Bank, and Ambassador Hisham Seif El-Din, Alternate Executive Director for Egypt at the World Bank.
During the meeting, the Minister discussed the priorities for future cooperation in light of the close partnerships between Egypt and the World Bank and under the umbrella of the Country Partnership Framework 2023-2027, both at the level of soft development financing, the development policy financing program, as well as technical support.
The Minister stressed the importance of the extended partnership with the World Bank Group, and the implementation of the 2023 - 2027 CPF, which is based on the priorities of promoting private sector growth, creating job opportunities, and enhancing investment in human capital through social protection, health systems, education, enhancing resilience through innovative solutions in the field of climate action and strengthening economic management. H.E. added that the current financing package enhances social protection efforts for the most vulnerable groups in a way that supports the implementation of targeted economic reforms.
The projects and programs being implemented were also discussed, most notably Development Policy Financing (DPF), which is one of the main programs to support the state’s efforts in implementing structural reforms, and the ongoing cooperation to implement the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) study, as well as the study of industrial and export development, and the technical support provided to the government in managing state owned enterprises. This is in addition to the ongoing coordination between national entities on the one hand and the World Bank on the other hand. They also discussed the implementation of the Climate Resilience Agricultural Food Transformation (CRAFT) project, one of the projects within the food pillar of the “NWFE” program.
During the meeting, the Minister stressed the need for the World Bank to play its role as a knowledge bank by enhancing cooperation and coordination with different countries to focus on the best sectors that support comprehensive and sustainable growth, develop policies related to those sectors, and propose the required reforms based on the international experiences that the bank holds, thus enhancing economic stability.
For her part, the World Bank Group Managing Director applauded the results of the economic reform implemented by the government in Egypt and the success in completing the agreement with the International Monetary Fund, as well as the completion of the deal for the Ras El Hekma city development project, highlighting at the same time Egypt’s efforts in coordination with various development partners to support their participation in specific projects.