Shoukry, World Bank’s Malpass discuss Egypt’s distinguished economic performance

CAIRO – 11 November 2021: Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and the President of the World Bank Group, David Malpass, discussed on a phone call Wednesday the state's development efforts and distinguished performance indicators of the Egyptian economy.

Both Shoukry and Malpass further discussed ways to enhance the existing cooperation with the World Bank, in order to support the development strategy in Egypt, according to what the official spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Ahmed Hafez, confirmed via Twitter.

Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry had confirmed that the new round of the Egyptian-American strategic dialogue had yielded fruitful results to strengthen relations between the two countries in various fields, noting that the next round of dialogue would be in 2023 in Cairo.

Shoukry added - in a special meeting with Egyptian and Arab journalists at his residence in Washington, that the dialogue had been suspended for some circumstances during the previous U.S. administration, but was resumed now before the current U.S. administration of President Joe Biden completed its first year, which confirms his administration's interest in strengthening ties with Egypt.

The Egyptian minister indicated that the meeting dealt with a number of important issues, adding that there was confirmation that during the past 40 years, “Egypt has always been a reliable partner in achieving parallel interests and goals between the two countries.”

Shoukry confirmed that U.S. Secretary Antony Blinken stressed the importance of expanding the scope of cooperation between the two countries in the economic, political and social aspects, referring to Egypt's hosting of the climate conference next year and the American interest in strengthening cooperation with Egypt in this field.

On what is new in raising the issue of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in the strategic dialogue between the two countries,

Minister Shoukry also stressed the importance of resuming negotiations over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) given the internal developments in Ethiopia and Sudan, and the latest statement issued in September by the Security Council, which emphasized the international community’s consensus that the negotiations should be under the African presidency.