Egypt secured $9.8 billion in development financing for the country’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030 in 2020, in response to the challenges that the COVID-19 crisis has imposed.

This announcement came within the Ministry of International Cooperation's annual report , which was released through a virtual press conference held on Monday and attended by Ahram Online.

The report was titled “International Partnerships for Sustainable Development: Writing the Future in a Changing Global Dynamic”.

It unveiled that there has been more than $6.7 billion secured for financing sovereign projects and $3.1 billion in support of the private sector.

“This year has been a challenge for every individual and a test for every nation around the world. However, the power of collaboration came through, bridging economic cooperation and expanding growth moved Egypt’s development plans forward,” said Minister of International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat.

The minister added that through the economic diplomacy approach, the ministry pushes the frontiers of multilateralism and cooperation by strengthening inclusive multilateral and bilateral engagement with development partners; governments; global policy makers; the private sector and the civil society to achieve a circular economy.

In 2020, while flattening both health and recession curves - due to the pandemic through Egypt’s Response and Rebuild Strategy - reform was underway in health; agriculture and food security; gender equality; education; infrastructure; transportation; energy; water; micro; small and medium enterprises (MSMEs); Sinai and the private sector, according to Al-Mashat.

In 2020, the ministry of international cooperation secured $9.8 billion in development financing that should meet various targets by 2030, led by H.E. Dr. Rania Al-Mashat

For finances secured for the Health sector and fighting COVID-19, the report showed that $477 million were secured in development financing for seven projects with development partners that include the World Bank, Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, USAID, African Development Bank (AFDB), Japan and Canada.

According to the report, Egypt also has 36 projects making up for $1.443 billion, which represents 5.62 percent of the total ODA.

For agriculture and food Security, $100 million were secured in agriculture, irrigation and national supply through the AFD, EBRD, USAID, OPEC Fund for International Development and bilateral cooperation with Germany.

End Hunger makes up 1.89 percent of the ODA financing in 17 projects with $486 million in Egypt, according to the report.

The ministry also managed to secure $3.3 billion to achieve gender equality, with the top targeted sectors including Health (20 percent), Education (14 percent), and micro, small and medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) (15 percent), according to the report.

For education, the ministry secured financing agreements with a total of $252 million from USAID, Saudi Fund, South Korea, Italy and Germany.

Meanwhile, there are 36 projects on quality education amounting to $2.361 billion currently, which represents 9.2 percent of the total ODA finances.

For Infrastructure, the report showed that the development cooperation portfolio with the ministry of international cooperation includes 36 projects with a total financing of $5.737 billion, making up 22.3% of ODA financing; which makes it one of the three highest financed SDGs in Egypt.

There are 30 projects also in sustainable cities and communities worth $1.497 billion and 34 projects for affordable and clean energy worth $5.950 billion.

Meanwhile, the ministry concluded agreements worth $1.3 billion in total dedicated to building resilient infrastructure and promoting inclusive and sustainable industrialization.

On the other hand, $1.794 billion were secured in development financing in support of the transportation sector in 2020, with development partners that include the EIB, AFD, EBRD, China, and the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED).

For energy, the ministry inked agreements totalling $677 million with the AFDB, the AFD, and EBRD, according to the report.

It also said that there are 34 projects currently within the ministry’s portfolio with a total of $5.95 billion, making up for the 23.2 percent of the ODA finances also making it the highest sector to recieve ODA financing.