The EIB Logo (Photo: EIB official website)
Egypt signed on Sunday a 229-million-euro deal with the European Investment Bank (EIB) to improve sanitation and community infrastructure in the Nile Delta, the EIB announced in a press statement.
Signed on the sidelines of the Africa 2018 economic forum in Sharm El-Sheikh in the presence of PM Mostafa Mabdouly, the initial agreement on the deal was reached in October during a visit by Egypt's Investment Minister Sahar Nasr to Luxemburg.
The Egyptian cabinet officially approved the deal in November.
"The EIB continues to support a sustainable, modern economy in Egypt and to reinforce its economic resilience," said EIB president Werner Hoyer, adding that the total EIB financing agreements with Egypt since 2012 have reached 5 billion euros.
The first agreement signed is a €214 million loan to the Kitchener Drain de-pollution project, the 69-km-long agricultural drainage canal spanning across the governorates of Kafr El-Sheikh, Gharbiya and Daqahliya in the Nile Delta region.
Approximately 6 million people are expected to benefit from improved and new sanitation and solid waste services as a result of the investments, the EIB said.
The EIB also said that the deal is a good example of multilateral cooperation as it is part of an integrated de-pollution project comprising a number of investments financed by the EIB, the European Union's Neighbourhood Investment Facility (NIF) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in wastewater and sanitation, solid waste and drain rehabilitation – a first of its kind in Egypt.
The EIB also signed a €15 million grant agreement on Sunday with Egypt's Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises Development Agency (MSMEDA). The grant is funded by the European Union under the NIF.
The new signings bring EIB's total finance agreements in Egypt in 2018 to 800 million euros for transport, energy, small and medium enterprises, microfinance, water and wastewater sectors.
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