Cairo - Mubasher: The Egyptian Minister of International Cooperation, Rania El-Mashat, met with several heads of chambers of commerce, business councils, and associations, as part of the Ministry of International Cooperation’s efforts in enhancing the private sector’s engagement in Egypt's development cooperation portfolio, through economic diplomacy and advancing international cooperation, according to a statement on Thursday.
This meeting aimed to build upon the ministry’s exerted efforts in 2021, as Egypt seeks to scale up the private sector’s engagement this year.
The meeting took place in the presence of the Secretary-General of the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce (FEDCOC), Alaa Ezz; CEO of Egypt’s American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham), Sylvia Menassa; Executive Director of the British Egyptian Business Association in Egypt, Nadia Lamloum; Managing Director of the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Egypt, Karim Wissa; Chairman of the Swiss-Egyptian Business Association (SEBA), Mahmoud Bazan; Executive Director of the SEBA, Marwa Taher; Secretary-General and CEO of the Egyptian-British Chamber of Commerce, Iman El Sherif; Chairman of the Egyptian-Korean Business Council, Khaled Mohamed Nosseir; and Board Advisor and Project Leader at Alexandria’s Business Association (ABA), Sherif El Diwany.
This is in addition to CEO of the German-Arab Chamber of Industry and Commerce (AHK Egypt), Jan Noether; Acting Executive Director of the Regional Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (RCREEE), Maged Mahmoud; and Head of Operations of the German-Arab Chamber of Industry and Commerce (AHK Egypt), Karin El-Shafei.
During the meeting, El-Mashat discussed with heads and representatives of chambers of commerce, business councils, and associations the available opportunities to enhance the private sector’s engagement in the national development efforts through advancing international partnerships.
This comes within the framework of the development partners’ keenness in providing development financings to the private sector, such as the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), as well as providing technical support to the private sector to ensure their embracement of the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles, which is positively reflected on the sector’s role in Egypt’s development plan.
El-Mashat stated that this meeting enhances the establishment of a liaison between the representatives of the private sector in Egypt, in order to create efficient partnerships between the private sector and multilateral and bilateral development partners. This also creates integration between all stakeholders through the development financings, and technical support provided, which accordingly paves the way for unleashing the private sector’s potential and supporting its role in enhancing the country’s development cooperation portfolio. The minister affirmed that the strengthened communication between business councils and chambers of commerce will lead to building effective cooperation mechanisms in the future period.
The minister further mentioned that the government looks forward to achieving Egypt’s Vision 2030, which aligns with the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs), hence the Ministry of International Cooperation works through instilling the economic diplomacy doctrine, on creating an international cooperation and development framework that includes all stakeholders, such as the public and private sectors, and the civil society.
The Ministry of International Cooperation also works on establishing transparent communication with the Egyptian people, in order to include them in the government’s efforts to achieve economic growth and to catalyse the change in mindset needed to push towards a more sustainable future as entailed by the global UN SDGs.
In 2020, the Ministry of International Cooperation launched the multi-stakeholder platform (MSP), which includes interactive meetings organised across various sectors, bringing together state ministries and multilateral and bilateral development partners, to create transparent dialogue and communication between relevant parties in a way that strengthens international partnerships to achieve sustainable development. El-Mashat noted that in 2021, an MSP was held on microfinance titled “MSMEs: The Power of Small”, in cooperation with the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA), the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), as well as representatives of the private sector and the civil society aiming to catalyse the growth of the micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Egypt.
Another MSP was also held on digitisation and its role in enhancing the private sector’s engagement, titled “Digitalisation as an Enabler for the Private Sector” aiming to push towards a digitised future for Egypt’s business ecosystem by utilising the expertise of the private sector. This is in addition to MSPs in the communications and information technology sector so as to present development efforts and reforms being implemented across various development fields. The minister stated that the Ministry of International cooperation constantly follows up on the status of the MSPs to ensure the creation of effective and efficient partnerships.
El-Mashat emphasised that green financing is one of the most important financing tools in order to enhance the private sector’s engagement, which has become one of the main areas of interest for international financial institutions. Egypt was the first country in the region to launch sovereign green bonds last year, with a value of $750 million. In consequence, the development partners were intrigued to venture into the country’s green financing realm; the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Commercial International Bank-Egypt (CIB) launched the first green bonds in the MENA region to finance the private sector. El-Mashat noted that green financing plays a role in achieving inclusive growth that pushes forward the green recovery through the private sector.
In 2020, the Ministry of International Cooperation secured $9.8 billion in development financing; $3.2 billion in support of the private sector, from development partners such as the World Bank, the EBRD, the European Investment Bank (EIB), the French Development Agency (AFD), the IFC, the African Development Bank (AfDB), and the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development.
These financings contributed to supporting several projects and companies across various sectors such as renewable energy, telecommunications, infrastructure, housing, tourism, and manufacturing; in addition to providing credit lines for SMEs.
It is worth noting that El-Mashat in collaboration with the London School of Economics (LSE) launched her book titled "Stakeholder Engagement Through Economic Diplomacy", to document Egypt’s pioneering experience in the field of international cooperation and development financing, along with the launch of the ODA-SDG map in an international event attended by eminent international economic figures and institutions.
