Al-Mashat, US Ambassador to Egypt Jonathan Cohen, and Mission Director of USAID Egypt Leslie Reed witnessed the signing.

The signed agreements are expected to play a role in stimulating Egypt’s government efforts in developing the sectors of basic education, higher education, science and technology, agriculture, health, economic governance, trade, and investment, in addition to $5 million allocated for combating the repercussions of the pandemic, according to the minister.

The agreements allocate $17 million to the sector of basic education; $31 million to the US-Egypt Higher Education Initiative (HEI); $4 million to US-Egyptian cooperation in the sector of science and technology; $27 million to economic governance; $5 million to agriculture and rural development; and $28 million to bolstering trade and investment in Egypt.

Al-Mashat elaborated that the strategic partnership with the US integrates with the national efforts of developing various sectors to achieve social and economic development referring to the ‘Closing the Gender Gap Accelerator’ that was launched by the Ministry of International Cooperation, the National Council for Women, and the World Economic Forum, which is the first  unique public-private collaboration model  in Africa and the Middle East that works towards taking decisive action on closing economic gender gaps.

The ministry is currently designing a new programme with USAID to ensure the economic and social empowerment of women in collaboration with relevant stakeholders in order to improve the work environment for women in the private sector, as well as expand women’s financial inclusion, according to Al-Mashat.

“I am pleased to announce today $125 million in economic assistance from the United States to Egypt.  This is part of the US Government’s $30 billion investment in Egypt over the last 40 years, which has brought clean water and wastewater services to 25 million Egyptians, eliminated polio, built 2,000 schools, and provided 4,000 university scholarships,” said Cohen.

Meanwhile, USAID’s Reed stated that the seven agreements being celebrated reinforce the strategic partnership between the United States and Egypt and the tremendous impact that the joint efforts have on Egypt’s people, adding that she is looking forward to the successes that will be achieved through these agreements.

Egypt’s cooperation portfolio with the USAID since 2014 has reached about $900 million in implementing priority projects in education, higher education, governance, small- and medium-sized enterprises, tourism, agriculture, and the private sector.

The total development cooperation portfolio between Egypt and the USA since 1978 amounts to over $30 billion, covering various sectors that represent development priorities for Egypt’s government.