Promoting co-operation between Egypt and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) was the core of talks held Sunday in the light of the EBRD’s strategy for Egypt, 2021-2025.
The virtual talks that featured Minister of International Co-operation Rania el-Mashat and President of EBRD, Odile Renaud-Basso, also addressed the topics on the agenda of the EBRD’s annual meeting due later this month.
The talks were part of the ministry’s efforts to consolidate economic ties with development partners on the multilateral and bilateral levels, according to a ministry press release.
El-Mashat, who is also Governor of Egypt at EBRD, reiterated Cairo’s support for EBRD’s strategy that aims at combating climate change and promoting green economy.
Egypt is taking extensive measures to achieve a green and sustainable recovery through developing strategies with the aim of mitigating and combatting the climate change impacts, she noted.
EBRD’s 2021-2025 strategy for Egypt, approved last October, is based on three pillars: supporting transition to a green economy and promoting environmental sustainability; promoting equal opportunity through access to skills and employment for women and young people; and accelerating the digital transition.
Renaud-Basso shared that the EBRD is supporting countries as they recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, indicating that the bank is interested in expanding its efforts to Africa in the coming period.
In 2020, Egypt was EBRD’s largest country of operations in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean (SEMED) region, for the third year in a row, accounting for more than €1 billion financing 21 projects; 47 per cent of the bank’s total investments in the region.
The current portfolio of co-operation between Egypt and the EBRD amounts to $1.3 billion. Since 2012, the EBRD has invested over 7.2 billion euros to implement 127 projects.
