The collective journey
in creating the new country strategy witnessed an important dialogue process
that began since the beginning of 2019, which aimed to achieve the Government
of Egypt’s priorities to fast-track social and economic progress, as well as
adaptability and resilience. A memorandum of understanding was signed in
January 2019 between the French Development Agency and the Ministry of
International Cooperation, which was activated in 2021 through the signing of
development agreements worth a total of 3.8 billion euros.
The Minister of
International Cooperation, H.E Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, noted that the new country
strategy aims to achieve three main priority themes: 1) boosting the
integration of the Egyptian financial, commercial and production systems
regionally; 2) support the development of social infrastructure and 3)
promoting equitable and sustainable local development. The three pillars of the
strategy also include key pillars in each of them: 1) promoting shared
prosperity; 2) aligning development and climate goals; and 3) job creation,
innovation and entrepreneurship.
In his speech, the
Ambassador of France to Egypt, Marc Baréty, highlighted that the new country
strategy will deepen the strong bilateral partnership between Egypt and France,
and that the French Development Agency will provide more than 60% of the funds
to improve public services, social inclusion, and developing infrastructure.
In her speech,
Marie-Hélène Loison, Deputy Director General of the AFD, stated that the
strategy reflects a renewed commitment to Egypt’s sustainable development,
which is a result of the key role that the Ministry of International
Cooperation plays in fostering coordinated governance to identify national
priorities and reach the goal of shared prosperity. She also added that the
French Development Agency will provide further technical and financial support
to provide a comprehensive and collaborative approach in achieving the
sustainable development goals.
Since the start of its
operations in Egypt, the development finance portfolio of the French
Development Agency currently amounts to around 3.1 billion euros to support
Egypt’s sustainable development.
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