Al-Mashat Meets New Regional Director of WB in Egypt

Egypt's Minister of International Cooperation and Governor of Egypt at the WBG, Rania Al-Mashat, met the New Regional Director of the World Bank in Egypt, Yemen and Djibouti, Stephane Guimbert, who took office in early-mid-August to succeed the former Regional Director, Marina Wes.

During the meeting, the leaders of the World Bank Group (WBG) and representatives from the Arab Republic of Egypt discussed partnership and development cooperation. They reviewed recent developments, including the launch of the new Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for 2023-2027. The Prime Minister, several ministers, and senior officials from the Egyptian government and development partners also attended the meeting.

At the outset of the meeting, Al-Mashat welcomed Guimbert, wishing him success in his new mission towards strengthening partnership frameworks aimed at achieving sustainable development at the Arab Republic of Egypt, whether at the level of development funds or technical support.

She stressed the importance of implementing many projects that directly benefit citizens, including the expansion of social protection programs "Takaful and Karama", the comprehensive health insurance project, the Upper Egypt development project and other basic sectors.

In turn, Guimbert thanked Al-Mashat for the warm reception and her role in strengthening the existing partnership between Egypt and the World Bank. He also stressed the bank’s keenness to move forward in expanding the scope of partnership with the Government of Egypt to meet development priorities, stimulate private sector participation and strengthen the ability to face the challenges facing development efforts.

Al-Mashat pointed to the successful preparation and launch of the CPF with the World Bank for the next five years, which began with the signing of an agreement to select the International Finance Corporation (IFC) as a strategic advisor to the government in the proposal program, in light of the state’s keenness to empower the private sector and increase its participation in all areas of development, explaining the government’s aspiration for more joint cooperation, especially at the level of increasing financing for small, medium and micro enterprises, and other fields, in addition to highlighting the efforts of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) to deepen its role at the level of empowering the private sector and increasing its investments, as well as moving forward in cooperation.

 The agreement between the government and the World Bank to finance the projects of the Nexus for Water, Food and Energy Platform, the NWFE program is the link between water, food, and energy projects and efforts to enhance climate action, and the emphasis on support in implementing the Sharm El-Sheikh plan to implement climate pledges.

The Egyptian official also discussed strengthening technical support efforts for many sectors, especially empowering the private sector, and mixed financing for water desalination projects, irrigation systems, river transport, and developing areas related to the blue economy, stressing the importance of the diagnostic reports carried out by the World Bank in Egypt, including the climate and development report, the report on achieving the demographic dividend in Egypt, and the importance of translating these reports into operational measures on the ground that enhance development efforts.

Al-Mashat further discussed, with the new Regional Director of the World Bank, conducting a new study to evaluate the situation of foreign direct investment in Egypt, in addition to preparing the national strategy for the industry, and the importance of these two studies for the state in light of its endeavor to attract more foreign direct investment and localize industry in various sectors.

The meeting discussed preparations for the annual meetings of the World Bank Group scheduled to be held in Marrakesh, as well as a roadmap for developing the role of the bank to play a greater role in fighting poverty and promoting shared prosperity. The road map for developing the role of the World Bank and its methodology to support member states was also discussed, noting that Egypt stresses the importance of integrating global and regional dimensions in a development model based on state ownership and meeting its priorities, and in this regard, it is important to support close cooperation with multiple development banks and parties and increase the financing capacity of the bank, and search for more efficient ways to stimulate the operating model.

It is worth noting that the ongoing portfolio of development cooperation between the Arab Republic of Egypt and the World Bank Group includes 14 projects worth $6.9 billion, in the fields of education, health, transportation, social protection, renewable energy, water desalination, housing, local development, and the environment.