H.E. Dr. Rania A. Al-Mashat, Minister of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation, met with Terje Pilskog, CEO of the Norwegian company "Scatec", during the Hamburg Sustainability Conference.
At the beginning of the meeting, Al-Mashat emphasized that the close economic relations between Egypt and Norway feature decades of joint cooperation, in addition to constructive cooperation with the private sector.
Al-Mashat commended the efforts of Scatec in Egypt to expand renewable energy projects, support the government's efforts in the field of green transformation, and implement nationally determined contributions, noting that the structural reforms implemented by Egypt, the development of clear strategies for expanding clean energy, and the launch of the National Strategy for Green Hydrogen, have encouraged the private sector to pump investments into these projects.
She pointed out that Scatec was one of the companies that contributed to the implementation of the Benban Solar Energy Complex, which is one of the largest projects of its kind in the world. This is in addition to recently launched projects to produce green hydrogen, which helps accelerate progress towards a sustainable future.
The Minister also noted the importance of international partnerships, development financing and grants provided by development partners, which encourages private sector investments, referring to the signing during the Hamburg Sustainability Conference between Scatec and the PTX Facility, to provide a grant worth €30 million for the green hydrogen project in Egypt.
Moreover, H.E. stated that all these efforts also help drive progress towards the transition to clean energy, aiming to reach 42% clean energy by 2030 and to implement the NDCs. She noted that the Ministry of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation is working to support international partnerships and mobilize domestic and foreign financing to enhance green transformation efforts and increase the proportion of environmentally friendly projects.
Al-Mashat also explained that international partnerships have resulted in several other projects in the field of green hydrogen, including: the project “Developing the first green hydrogen production facility in the Suez Canal Economic Zone”, which is being implemented by Scatec, Fertiglobe, Orascom, and the Sovereign Fund of Egypt (TSFE).