Minister of International Cooperation and Governor of Egypt at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Rania Al-Mashat, has met with Heike Harmgart, EBRD managing director for the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean (SEMED) region, at the ministry’s headquarters in the presence of vice president of the bank's regional office in Egypt, Khalid Hamza, to discuss the EBRD’s new green recovery strategy.
During the meeting, Al-Mashat praised strategic cooperation relations between Egypt and the EBRD and its contributions to financing several diverse development projects over the recent period, adding that Egypt was marked as the largest country of the bank’s operations in 2019 with total investments of €2.3 billion, 60 percent of which was dedicated to the private sector.
“Egypt is looking forward to strengthening economic relations with the bank within the framework of its new strategy for 2021-2025, which is based on three main outcomes: supporting the transition to a green economy, enhancing environmental sustainability and reducing carbon emissions, as well as promoting equal opportunities for women and accelerating the pace of digital transformation,” said Al-Mashat.
For her part, Harmgart said that the EBRD is eager to support the national development priorities of Egypt, particularly with regards to directing more support to the private sector and investing in the green economy. She also praised the role played by the Ministry of International Cooperation in coordinating between the EBRD and government agencies in Egypt to implement development projects.
The EBRD recently issued a report on Egypt’s economy, indicating that Egypt is the only country in the region that will escape a recession and achieve positive growth of two percent in 2020, which is expected to jump to five percent in 2021.
In October, during its annual meeting, the EBRD’s Board of Governors approved its 2021-2025 strategy that seeks increasing the share of green financing to at least 50 percent of its total financing by 2025, up from around 40 percent in 2019, in addition to strengthening the focus on the private sector by raising its share in the bank’s investments to more than 75 percent.
Egypt is currently the largest country of EBRD operations with total investments of about €6.8 billion in 123 projects, of which the private sector comprises about 60 percent, while the portfolio of ongoing projects is about €4.6 billion.
In June, Egypt won silver and bronze awards as a part of EBRD's Sustainability Awards that recognise achievements in categories including sustainable energy, climate resilience, and environmental and social best practices.
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