Minister of Tourism & Antiquities Receives Delegation from The USAID in Egypt to Discuss Cooperation

Ahmed Eissa, Minister of Tourism &Antiquities, received, at the ministry's headquarters in the New Administrative Capital (NAC), a delegation from the United States Agency for International Development in Egypt (USAID), headed by Margaret Sancho, acting head of the agency.

The delegation included Oliver Mesmer, Executive Director of the Integrated Management of Cultural Tourism (IMCT) project funded by the US Agency, and Laura Gonzalez, Director of Economic Development at the Agency, to discuss ways of joint cooperation in the field of tourism and antiquities.

The minister started the meeting by welcoming the visiting delegation and referred to the existing and fruitful cooperation with the USAID in the field of tourism and antiquities and its efforts in many development projects in the field of tourism, preserving antiquities and heritage, and enhancing and raising the efficiency of various tourist and archaeological sites.

During the meeting, the projects that are being implemented between the agency and Egypt in the field of tourism and antiquities were discussed through the agreement on the sustainable investment grant in tourism – which is known as “Site”, that was signed between the Egyptian government and the agency in 2014.

One of the projects of this agreement, which is to be implemented during the coming period, was also discussed, which is the Integrated Management for Cultural Tourism (IMCT), which includes work to restore and develop 12 archaeological sites in Historic Cairo and Luxor.

During the meeting, the components of this project were also discussed, including those related to governance and investment in partnership with the private sector, restoration, rehabilitation and reuse of these archaeological sites.