Egypt, France ink two grant agreements worth €71 mln
Doaa A.Moneim, Tuesday 8 Oct 2019
Egypt will receive two grants to boost the energy and natural gas sectors


Egypt’s ministers of investment and electricity inked on Tuesday two grant agreements with the French Development Agency (FDA) that aim to boost Egypt’s energy and natural gas sectors with a total of €71 million (EGP 1.2 billion).

Egypt’s Minister of Investment and International Cooperation Sahar Nasr stressed that the developmental and venture cooperation between Egypt and France aims to serve the Egyptian people’s needs and the government’s priorities, adding that Egypt is eager to enhance its ties with France.

“Our aim is to provide the best services for the Egyptian citizen and reach the neediest governorates. Egypt is also keen on injecting more investments in these governorates to improve their infrastructure and create new jobs,” Nasr said.

One of the two agreements, which is worth €3 million, is for boosting the energy sector through enhancing governance and guaranteeing its sustainable development in line with the integrated sustainable energy strategy 2035, paving the way for creating more new jobs and introducing technical support for the sector, according to Egypt’s Minister of Electricity Mohamed Shaker.

The other agreement, worth €69 million, is to cover the cost of delivering the gas to homes in the neediest villages, which stands at EGP 2,060 for each home, with a target of 2.4 million households over four years.

Meanwhile, French ambassador in Egypt Stéphane Romatet said that France is keen on seeing natural gas delivered to all Egyptian families.

The head of the FDA regional office asserted that the FDA is eager to support Egypt’s economic reform programme in the coming phase, and that France is confident in Egypt’s economy and its economic and legislative reforms, especially in business and investment, which encourages the FDA to finance and support establishing new development projects in Egypt.

According to Egypt’s investment ministry, Egypt’s cooperation portfolio with France stands at €1 billion in transportation, electricity, housing, healthcare, agriculture, and the environment, and that the MoU on strategic partnership in social and economic development from 2019 until 2023 that has been inked between Egypt and the FDA introduces approximately €1 billion.

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