Egypt’s Minister of International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat inked a development financing agreement grant worth €57.7 million on Thursday with the German Ambassador in Cairo Cyrill Jean Nunn.

The agreement comes within the framework of the 2019 Financial and Technical Cooperation agreements signed between the Egyptian and German sides with the aim of implementing six projects in the sectors of energy efficiency, renewable energy, technical education and vocational training, private sector support, administrative reform, water support, and sanitation.

These projects will be carried out in cooperation between Egypt’s relevant ministries and the German state-owned KfW Investment and Development Bank, along with the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ).

Al-Mashat said that the Ministry of International Cooperation seeks to optimise development cooperation with multilateral and bilateral development partners in order to provide the needed development funds for implementing different projects across Egypt’s sectors, which is also in line with Egypt’s Vision 2030.

The ministry’s ongoing cooperation portfolio with Germany amounts to €1.7 billion, which has funded 30 projects so far, either through loans or technical and financial grants benefiting many sectors, including energy efficiency, renewable energy, water sanitation, development of water resources, solid waste management, migration, labour market, private sector support, technical education, vocational training, urban development and administrative reform, development of women and youth, and community development, according to the international cooperation ministry.

On his side, Ambassador Nunn emphasized the importance of economic and development cooperation with Egypt and the keenness of the German side to reinforce this cooperation going forward so that it would encompass all fields.

He also praised the Multi-Stakeholder Platforms (MSPs) that the Ministry of International Cooperation holds to strengthen partnerships between all development partners, government entities, and the private sector, pointing out the importance of the MSPs in solidifying cooperation efforts between all stakeholders.

Nunn expressed his aspiration to conduct field visits to development projects in Egypt that are funded by Germany as well.

Within the framework of the Egyptian-German Debt Swap programme, the first phase concluded with an amount of €70 million, where it managed to implement several projects across the fields of school nurturing, enhancing the quality of education, rehabilitating hydroelectric stations, developing the Assiut Barrage, in addition to improving the quality of drinking water and sanitation services.

Through the second phase of the programme, the German side allocated €10 million to the second tranche, benefiting the Ministry of Education, and supporting the second phase of the Education Quality Support Project.

Through the program’s second tranche, Germany has provided Egypt with €80 million, where several projects have been implemented, one of which is the Investing in Human Capital Project in Upper Egypt benefiting the World Food Programme in partnership with Egypt’s Ministry of Education.

In November 2020, the government of Germany has approved to provide Egypt with €80 million worth of the third tranche of the second phase of the Swap Program. Currently, both sides are agreeing on the list of proposed projects to be funded though this tranche.