Egypt s Minister of International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat during her meeting with the World Bank s team.
The WBG’s team includes Country Director for Egypt, Yemen, and Djibouti Marina Wes, World Bank Lead Country Economist Mark Eugene, and senior private sector specialist Hisham El-Shiaty.
The two sides also discussed Egypt’s hosting of the 27th round of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Climate Change Convention (COP 27) in 2022.
Al-Mashat told the team that the world, especially emerging countries, is in increasing need of financing for climate action, especially in light of the inability to provide previous pledges to secure $100 billion annually from developed countries for climate action.
She also pointed out Egypt’s strong commitment to shift towards a green economy, and to take consistent and strategic steps to achieve that end, such as the government’s target of ensuring that all public projects are 30 percent green by the end of 2024.
She referred to Egypt’s first green bonds issuance, worth $750 million, to streamline environmental sustainability in development projects as well.
The WBG representatives congratulated Egypt on its success in winning the hosting of the COP27, which reflects the leading role that Egypt plays in transitioning to a green economy, stressing that Egypt is the first country in the region that participates with the WBG in developing a strategy to fight climate change through joint cooperation in preparing the World Bank’s Country Climate and Development Report.
Furthermore, Al-Mashat also met with the Regional Director of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Walid Labadi, to explore new tools aiming to bolster the role of the private sector in Egypt’s economy and climate change efforts, particularly in regard to adaptation.
The IFC’s portfolio in the Egyptian market — which is worth $1.26 billion — covers several sectors, including the private sector, environment, governance, gender, finance, transportation, healthcare, wholesale and retail trade, textiles, clothing and leather, manufacturing, and agribusiness.
Additionally, the IFC provided development financing to the private sector worth $421 million in 2020, supporting the sector with $4 billion over the past decade.
Moreover, Labadi noted that the IFC aims to create a market for renewable energy in Egypt by tapping on the expertise and financing of the private sector.
He also referred to the launch of a new project to develop supply chains for the textile sector in Egypt and attract investments worth $800 million, in cooperation with the Ready-Made Garments and Textiles Chamber.
In October, the World Bank approved a $360 million development policy financing loan to support Egypt’s post-pandemic recovery, which focuses on three pillars: Enhancing macro-fiscal sustainability, enabling private sector development, and fostering women’s economic inclusion.
The ongoing development cooperation portfolio with the World Bank amounts to around $5.8 billion distributed across 18 projects in various sectors, including education, health, transportation, social solidarity, petroleum, housing, sanitation, local development, and the environment.
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