The Minister of International Cooperation Rania al-Mashat signed development financing grants with the European Union worth €138 million.
This covers several sectors including: health, administrative reform, environment, rural and community development, and governance.
Mashat stressed the importance of strategic relations between Egypt and the EU, and in moving forward by strengthening cooperation within the framework of the 2021 – 2027 Cooperation Strategy.
The Ambassador of the European Union in Egypt, Christian Berger said that the grants signed today aim to improve the standard of living and promote development in many vital sectors.
The Ministry of International Cooperation and the European Union (EU) organized a signing ceremony for these development financing grants within the framework of the Egyptian-European partnership.
The ceremony was attended by Mashat, Berger, alongside Minister of Environment Yasmine Fouad, Chairman of the National Bureau for the Implementation of the Egypt-EU Association Agreement, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Omar Aboueish, the President of the Central Agency for Organisation Administration (CAOA) Saleh el-Sheikh and also representatives from ministries, ambassadors of EU member states, and development partners.
The signing ceremony witnessed a €24 million grant agreement between the EU’s Integrated Rural Development program and the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation to support the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation.
The event also included the signing of the Public Financial Management project to support the Ministry of Finance with a €5 million grant, and the Sustainable Development Strategy and the Administrative Reform Plan with a €5 million grant to support the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, and the Central Agency for Organisation Administration (CAOA).
This comes within the framework of “EU Support to Enhanced Administrative and Public Economic Governance in Egypt” program , which will be implemented through the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
The project “Decentralization and Integrated Local Development with a Special Emphasis on Upper Egypt” was also signed, worth €7 million in grants, within the framework of “EU Support to Enhanced Administrative and Public Economic Governance in Egypt”, which will be implemented through the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), in support of the Ministry of Local Development.
A €14 million grant for the “EU Green – EU Support for Growth through Egyptian Environmental Networks” program was also signed, and will be implemented through the GIZ, to support the Ministry of Environment.
This is in addition to the €3 million grant for the Community Development Program between the EU and the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) for the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (MSMEDA).
Moreover, the disbursement of the second tranche was announced to support the budget, worth €80 million in grants to support the Ministry of Health and Population.
