The launch took place on the sidelines of the high-level Swiss delegation’s visit to Egypt that started on Monday and is expected to conclude on Friday.

Swiss State Secretary of Economic Affairs Marie-Gabrielle Ineichen-Fleisch, expressed her pride in the long-term cooperation between Egypt and Switzerland, applauding the results achieved so far and expressing her aspiration to further cooperation in the pursuit of common goals through the new programme.

Director General of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) Ambassador Patricia Danzi stated that the cooperation with Egypt comes within the priorities of Switzerland’s strategy for international cooperation in the Middle East and North Africa 2021-2024, adding that Egypt plays a pivotal role in the region and is Switzerland’s key partner in the southern Mediterranean.

Ambassador Paravicini noted that within the framework of the new programme, Switzerland works to support the government of Egypt in its transition towards a green economy and adaption to climate change through providing innovative contributions across sectors of clean energy, green financing, supporting macro reforms in Egypt’s economy, and achieving development and improving the business environment.

For her part, Al-Mashat expounded that the new cooperation programme with Switzerland comes within the government’s unremitting efforts to implement inclusive economic and social reforms with the aim of scaling up the Egyptian economy’s competitiveness, achieving sustainable development, and leading the region in the transition towards a green economy, as well as in combating climate change.

During its visit to Egypt, the Swiss delegation met with several Egyptian officials and visited a score of projects that Switzerland has helped finance, including in infrastructure and solid waste management sectors.

The delegation is headed by the Director General of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) Ambassador Patricia Danzi, Head of the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs’s Economic Cooperation and Development Division Ambassador Dominique Paravicini, the new Ambassador of Switzerland to Egypt, Yvonne Baumann.

The partnership between Egypt and Switzerland extends for more than 40 years, during which the Swiss side has contributed more than 700 million Swiss francs to finance the implementation of more than 200 projects in various sectors in Egypt.

The ongoing development cooperation portfolio between the two countries amounts to $58 million to finance seven projects in industry, urban development, water, housing, waste management, communications and health sectors.