Egypt, Italy Ink 2 Agreements on Technical Support to Robiki Leather City

Minister of International Cooperation Dr. Rania Al-Mashat and Italy’s ambassador to Egypt Giampaolo Cantini signed on Monday two agreements on technical support for the Robbiki Leather city project and supporting small and medium enterprises.

Al-Mashat noted that the first agreement is a grant of about €6 million to finance technical assistance to complete the implementation of Robbiki Leather city, which aims to establish a city specialized in the production and tanning of leather in Badr City, encouraging and supporting the competitiveness of leather production locally and abroad and eliminating environmental pollutants resulting from chemicals used in tanning operations.

"The second agreement is on amending the protocol for the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority, which is worth $12.9 million, and aims to support financing the purchase of equipment, technology transfer and related technical assistance," Al-Mashat pointed out.

Al-Mashat explained that the Ministry of International Cooperation seeks to strengthen the ‘Global Partnerships for Effective Development’ through the principles of economic diplomacy.

[caption id="attachment_167003" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Egyptian-Italian Cooperation[/caption]

These principles include regularly organizing multi-stakeholder platforms to ensure that all projects between development partners are streamlined and effectively coordinated to accelerate the pace of development for the achievement of UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); adopting a consistent Global Partnerships Narrative People&Projects&Purpose (P&P&P); and mapping ODA financing to SDGs for all projects with multilateral and bilateral development partners.

The ongoing cooperation portfolio with Italy amounts to about €73.6 million, distributed in many vital sectors such as trade, industry, agriculture, small and medium enterprises, support for children's rights, health, and economic and social development.

Meanwhile, the cooperation portfolio between Egypt and Italy within the framework of the debt swap program is worth $350 million; in which $149.9 million is allocated for the first phase, and $100 million is allocated for the second phase, through which about 88 projects were funded. The third phase was signed in 2012 and is worth about $100 million.