Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of International Cooperation, met with Ambassador Gareth Bayley, the British Ambassador to Egypt, at the Ministry’s headquarters in the New Administrative Capital, in the presence of embassy officials and the Ministry of International Cooperation’s technical team.
At the beginning of the meeting, the Minister welcomed the British Ambassador to Egypt, noting the close and historical relations between the Arab Republic of Egypt and the United Kingdom, and the government’s keenness to consolidate joint relations in a way that supports the efforts it is undertaking to implement economic and structural reforms that enhance the recovery of the Egyptian economy and stimulate comprehensive and sustainable growth.
The discussions touched on the role played by the United Kingdom in cooperation with the World Bank, through implementing the development policy program, which is based on three main pillars, including enhancing economic competitiveness and improving the business environment; enhancing macroeconomic resilience; supporting the green transformation, to enhance structural reform plans by supporting the state’s general budget. The steps taken recently were also discussed at the level of the Ras El Hekma City Development Project agreement in cooperation with the Emirati side, and the program being implemented with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) within the framework of implementing integrated economic reform policies for Egypt.
The Minister stressed the integration of the efforts of development partners, represented by the European Union, the World Bank Group, and the United Kingdom, by supporting the government’s economic and structural reforms that enhance the participation of the private sector as a major actor in development efforts, so that it becomes the largest contributor to achieving development. It supports the country's vision of achieving comprehensive and sustainable growth.
The meeting discussed future cooperation with the British side in the field of agriculture and food security, in addition to the ongoing coordination to contribute to the implementation of the energy pillar within the country platform of the “NWFE ” program, and to enhance energy security and climate action efforts in Egypt. In the same context, discussion of the ongoing cooperation through the Climate Action Accelerator (CFA) was supported by the British side with a grant worth 10 million euros to provide technical support to companies and projects in various areas of climate action, of which 8 companies have graduated within the framework of the first batch of the accelerator so far.
The Minister and British Ambassador discussed joint cooperation through the UK Export Credit Agency in the field of water, as well as efforts to train government cadres in the field of climate action.
Al-Mashat reviewed the report issued by the Ministry of International Cooperation on cooperation between Egypt and Europe under the title “A Shared Development Vision for Progress and Prosperity,” which monitors all aspects of cooperation with the European side during 2020-2023.
Egyptian-British relations are characterized by their diversity in many fields, and there are many British companies that invest in Egypt. In 2020, the Ministry of International Cooperation and the British Office of State for International Development issued a joint statement to enhance economic cooperation between the two countries as part of the activities of the British-African Investment Summit.
During the annual meetings of the African Development Bank, which were hosted in Sharm El-Sheikh last year, the Minister of International Cooperation witnessed the announcement by the United Kingdom and the African Development Bank of the first tranche of projects benefiting from the United Kingdom’s guarantee to support the African Development Bank in financing climate projects on the continent, and among them are Projects Providing a guarantee worth 80 million euros, to cover part of the financing provided by the bank to implement the third phase of the Gabal Al Asfar WasteWater Treatment Plant project, thus enhancing the bank’s ability to expand in financing other projects in the fields of mitigation and adaptation in Egypt.
It is worth noting that the former British Prime Minister and Chairman of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, Tony Blair, is one of the contributors to the preparation of the Sharm El-Sheikh Guide for Just Financing, which was launched by the Ministry of International Cooperation, at COP27, which defines the principles of stimulating climate investments.
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