Mashat confers with Singaporean minister on enhancing joint co-operation

Egyptian Minister of International Co-operation Rania El Mashat conferred on Tuesday with Senior Minister in the Singapore Cabinet Tharman Shanmugaratnam on means of boosting joint co-operation as well as Egypt’s preparations for hosting the UN Climate Conference (COP27).

The meeting was held on the fringe of Mashat’s participation in an international conference titled for “the Transition Finance Towards Net Zero (TFNZ) Conference” which was inaugurated earlier in the day in Singapore.

During the meeting, Mashat reviewed the efforts exerted by Egypt to push the international community to move towards the phase of implementing climate pledges at the local and international levels.

She also underlined the state’s efforts to launch a national strategy on climate change 2050 as well as the program titled Egypt Country Platform for NWFE (Nexus on Food, Energy and Water) to propel transition towards green economy.

Mashat said the Ministry of International Co-operation launched NWFE programme, which provides opportunities for mobilising finance and private investments to support Egypt’s green transition, contribute to international efforts aimed at reducing emissions along with backing the technological transfer in the field of combating the impact of climate change.

TFNZ conference is organised by The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), together with knowledge partners McKinsey & Company and Convergence Blended Finance, and supported by the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ). The conference provides a platform to galvanise key public and private sector stakeholders to mobilise capital at scale to help economies and corporates decarbonise.

The conference focused on the theme of scaling “blended finance” which involves the use of concessional and catalytic capital to draw in private capital at commercial rates for financing projects with sustainable outcomes.

Concessional capital refers to financing that offers more favourable terms than commercial capital, e.g. grants, technical assistance, debt at below-market rates, to reduce overall risk in the project.