Egypt's Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly met witha delegation from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) on Monday and stressed the government’s determination to encourage the private sector to play a major role in the country's economic and investment activity.

At the meeting in Cairo, Madbouly hailed the ongoing cooperation between Egypt and the bank, which includes a number of major development projects.

Minister of Investment and International Cooperation Sahar Nasr also attended the meeting.

The government is looking forward to further cooperation with the EBRD in the coming period, especially in the fields of transport, including railways and maritime transport, the premier said.

He added that Egypt is currently implementing structural and sector-related reforms to ensure the sustainability of the results achieved and to contribute to the growth rate.

Egypt needs to create one million new jobs annually to accommodate new entrants into the labour market, Madbouly said.

The government is focusing on the industrial sector and supporting small and medium-sized enterprises to create these jobs, he said.

The premier said that projects launched over the past five years have created four million jobs.