Egypt’s FM urges IFAD to boost funding to support Egypt’s Haya Karima initiative

CAIRO – 2 December 2022: Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry affirmed on Thursday Egypt’s aspiration for the enhancement of the financial activity of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to support agricultural and rural development projects.

Shoukry made the remarks in a meeting with President of IFAD Alvaro Lario on the sidelines of the former’s official visit to Rome.

This especially includes Egypt’s Haya Karima initiative for which the government devotes large resources to ensure that it is in line with the government's priority to promote and finance agricultural investments in the country, Shoukry said.

The initiative especially supports small investors and startups and works on empowering youth and back innovative projects, Shoukry added.

The Egyptian initiative works to improve standards of living in the countryside for more than half of Egypt’s 102-million population living in thousands of villages across the nation.

 

The foreign minister affirmed Egypt’s commitment to continue the ongoing cooperation with IFAD, hailing the Fund’s efforts made to mobilize commitments for the Nexus of Water, Food and Energy (NWFE) Program launched by the Egyptian government during the 2022 UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) in November.

During COP27, the Egyptian government selected IFAD to lead the multi-billion-dollar food and agriculture pillar of NWFE program, which represents a step toward the launch of the country’s National Climate Change Strategy 2050.

NWFE program seeks to accelerate the national climate agenda through three main pillars: water, food, and energy.

During the meeting, Shoukry also hailed the launch of the Sustainable Transformation for Agricultural Resilience (STAR) program in Upper Egypt during COP27.

The program, which is implemented in cooperation with IFAD, aims at improving living standards of smallholders and poor and vulnerable women and youth in the Egyptian countryside.

Lario praised Egypt's organization of the climate conference in Sharm El-Sheikh and also hailed Egypt's efforts to ensure its success.

The IFAD president stressed the continuation of cooperation with Egypt as the largest country in the Near East and North Africa that cooperates with the Fund.