Coronavirus helped in emerging "economic diplomacy" term: Al-Mashat

CAIRO – 8 April 2021: Coronavirus has highlighted the importance of international solidarity and multilateral cooperation to correct the course, work with innovation and direct our energies towards integration and building, Minister of International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat said Thursday.

She added that the pandemic was also a catalyst for the countries' orientation towards accelerating the pace of reforms, especially in the areas of digital transformation, strengthening programs for social protection, food security, health care and including the informal workers into the formal sector, and taking effective steps towards achieving equal opportunities, especially towards empowering women and creating job opportunities for youth.

This came during Human Rights Conference… "Building a Post-Pandemic World" organized by the Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies (ECSS).

“During 2020, the Ministry of International Cooperation sought to use new terminology that would lead us towards achieving a clear imprint at this exceptional time,” Al-Mashat stated, noting that one of these terminologies that reveals the Ministry's trend is the economic diplomacy.

“Economic diplomacy to advance multilateral cooperation is based on 3 main pillars: First, a platform for joint coordination cooperation with multilateral development partners. Second, matching development financing with the international goals of sustainable development, and third: listing international posts to highlight the success stories achieved within the framework of economic cooperation,” Al-Mashat pointed.

She clarified that Egypt puts investment in the Egyptian citizen as a first priority, realizing that human capital is the focus of the comprehensive development process. “That’s why; the Ministry focuses on 3 axes: the citizen who attains the focus of attention, the ongoing projects, and the goal which is the driving force.”

Through economic diplomacy and international partnerships, Egypt has been able to take effective steps towards bridging the financing gap to achieve development in various sectors by concluding development financing agreements worth $9.8B, Al-Mashat stated.
 

She explained that the $9.8B development financing agreements are divided into $6.7B for the state's different sectors and the rest $3.2B is for the private sector, Al-Mashat
 

Through these financing development agreements, Egypt's strives to push forward economic and structural reforms and to promote comprehensive and sustainable growth led by the private sector in line with the three axes: the citizen, ongoing projects, and the goal, according to Al-Mashat.

Meanwhile, the ministry’s portfolio of development projects includes 377 projects with a total financing amount of $25B in the state’s different sectors, which comes in cooperation with all bilateral and multilateral development partners.

These financings serve the Egyptian citizen needs of fighting poverty, achieving social justice, and developing towns most in-need, and overcoming economic challenges, developing infrastructure, transportation, as well as creating new and modern systems for health and education, empowering women, and enhancing innovation, according to Al-Mashat.