During the meeting -Press photo
CAIRO - 23 February 2022: The Minister of International Cooperation, Rania A. Al-Mashat held a meeting with a World Bank delegation and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) at the Ministry’s headquarters to chart the roadmap for climate action and a green economy transition in Egypt.
The meeting included Ayat Soliman, Regional Director for the World Bank Group's Sustainable Development Department for the Middle East and North Africa, Marina Wes, World Bank’s Country Director for Egypt, Yemen and Djibouti, Robert Bou Jaoude, World Bank Operations Manager for Egypt, and Layali Abdeen, Senior Investment Guarantee Officer at MIGA.
This comes within the country-led engagement framework held by the Ministry of International Cooperation with multilateral and bilateral development partners to periodically follow up on the progress of ongoing partnerships and strategies, which is in line with presidential directives to optimize the value of development cooperation along two dimensions: social-environmental and financial-economic through bolstering Egypt’s economic and sustainable development, enhancing role of the private sector, as well as improving infrastructure and investing in human capital through the “Decent Life” initiative.
The private sector is a critical player in the climate action space. Cooperating with global partners, the Ministry of International Cooperation is stepping up the role of private sector finance to drive climate action through blended finance. The meeting discussed future roadmaps between Egypt and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) to promote the private sector in development through ESG principles, as well as preparations for the Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR), which will help Egypt align climate action and development.
The Minister of International Cooperation, Rania A. Al-Mashat, underlined that environmental analysis and adaptation frameworks integrate climate change risks into existing development priorities to assist decision makers to identify responsive strategies to changes in climate.
In light of Egypt’s preparations to host the UN Climate Conference COP27, the meeting discussed cooperation with the World Bank in this regard, which include financing for climate action, enhancing technical support and spurring knowledge exchange, in addition to organizing events and activities that push towards the integration of climate action with all SDG development goals.
The Minister of International Cooperation also discussed the developments of the ongoing portfolio of development cooperation with the World Bank Group, which serves various priority areas of development for the country.
During 2021, many development funds for projects were signed, amounting to $1.4 billion, where last year witnessed the signing of development policies financing worth $720 million, where $360 million is from the World Bank and the same from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, to support the structural reform program implemented by the state, which is a testimony of confidence to the importance of the reforms undertaken by the government and to enhance the continuity of reform steps.
She explained that the past year witnessed a development in terms of new partnerships with the World Bank, as a development financing agreement worth $200 million was concluded to combat air pollution in Greater Cairo. She also referred to the ongoing projects in the housing, utilities and sanitation sector and the need to strengthen cooperation in the field of technical support. projects being implemented. It also discussed the development of development cooperation projects in the transport and financial sector, which is one of the main sectors that the state places on the list of priorities.
For her part, Ayat Soliman, Regional Director for the World Bank’s Sustainable Development Department for the Middle East and North Africa, referred to the ongoing consultations between all technical teams from the World Bank, the Ministry of International Cooperation, and other relevant authorities, to coordinate priorities in order to ensure complementarity among national and global objectives.
Layali Abdeen, Senior Investment Guarantee Officer at MIGA said that the agency held meetings with private sector companies to enhance partnerships and unlock opportunities for the private sector to participate in development projects, with one success story being the Benban solar park, which involved a hundred Egyptian private companies and created around 640 jobs besides 18,000 temporary ones.
Egypt’s development cooperation portfolio with the World Bank amounts to a total of $5.5 billion in 15 projects that target a diversity of sectors such as transportation, education, housing, health, social protection, petroleum, water and sanitation, and environment. In addition, the International Finance Corporation, the arm of the World Bank Group for financing the private sector, directed in 2021 development financing worth $421 million to the private sector in Egypt.
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