Egypt, France talk strengthening bilateral cooperation relations

CAIRO - 7 October 2023: During her visit to France to attend the Green Finance and Investment Forum organized by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of International Cooperation, met with Chrysoula Zakaropoulou, Minister of State for Development Cooperation of France, in light of efforts to strengthen joint relations with multilateral and bilateral development partners.

 

The meeting witnessed discussion of efforts to strengthen bilateral cooperation relations between the Arab Republic of Egypt and the French Republic, and follow-up on the results of the Paris Summit for a new global financial pact.  

 

The two ministers discussed the global economic scene and the successive developments as a result of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis and the Corona pandemic, and the impact of these developments on developing countries and emerging economies, stressing the importance of strengthening the efforts of the international community and international institutions to provide soft development financing to those countries.

 

Al-Mashat appreciated the existing cooperation with the French side in financing developmental projects in Egypt, especially the development and rehabilitation of metro lines.

 

Future development cooperation projects were also discussed at the level of capacity building programs, new metro lines, housing, education, vocational training, and small projects. 

 

It is worth noting that the total economic cooperation portfolio between Egypt and France from 1974 to date amounted to 7.5 billion euros, through more than 42 cooperation protocols in various sectors, including transportation, electricity, civil aviation, housing, sanitation, health, agriculture, and irrigation, small and medium enterprises, environment, antiquities, and basic and technical education, while the current development cooperation portfolio records about 1.8 billion euros.

 

During 2022, the Ministry of International Cooperation and the French Development Agency launched the new country strategy until 2025, which comes under the slogan “Towards Shared Prosperity,” and aims to achieve three main priority axes:

 

1) Enhancing the integration of Egyptian financial, commercial, and productivity systems at the regional level. 2) Support the development of social infrastructure. 3) Promoting equitable and sustainable local development.

 

The strategy's three pillars include main sub-pillars: 1) Promoting shared prosperity. 2) Reconciling development goals with climate goals; 3) Job creation, innovation and entrepreneurship.

 

In 2021, an agreement was signed between the Egyptian and French governments to contribute to financing priority development projects in Egypt, in light of the 2021-2025 strategy, with a value of 1.76 billion euros. Including €776 million from the French Treasury and €990 million from the French Development Agency.