Egypt’s Minister of International Cooperation, Rania Al-Mashat, praised the constructive partnership between Egyptian institutions at both the governmental and private sector levels and the African Export-Import Bank “Afreximbank” for its role in assisting the business community, facilitating trade exchanges among African countries, and providing financing for various sectors.
Her positive remarks came during Mashat’s meeting on Monday with President of Afreximbank Benedict Oramah at the headquarters of the Ministry of International Cooperation in the New Administrative Capital, where extensive discussions were held in the presence of the bank’s Vice President Kanayo Awani, Head of Trade and Corporate Finance Sector Ayman El Zaghloul, Director of Consultations and Capital Markets Hatem El Demerdash, and several bank officials, as well as the Ministry of International Cooperation.
The event saw prominent discussions about strengthening cooperation with Afreximbank to increase South-South cooperation, drawing on Egypt’s developmental experiences and competence in international engagement with other African countries. It also reviewed collaborative efforts in food security, increasing agricultural investment on the continent, and other development issues.
Discussions also included collaboration with the bank via the “Hafez” platform for financial and technical support to the private sector to integrate the bank’s efforts to empower the private sector with the platform’s provision of services and information to connect with development partners and the business community.
Furthermore, the meeting underlined the link between the “Hafez” platform and the bank’s Electronic Platform for Engineering, Procurement, and Construction Contracts (EPC), which was launched during the third edition of the Intra-African Trade Fair 2023 in Cairo, with President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in attendance.
Mashat underscored the critical role of development partners in financing the private sector and providing consultancy services and technical support, stating that facilitated finance and contributions totaled USD 10.3 billion over the previous four years.
During the meeting, Mashat reviewed the framework for international cooperation and development finance, as well as the ministry’s role in the state’s vision to expand cooperation with multilateral and bilateral development partners, the private sector, and civil society to maximize the benefits of development financing and ensure that development projects are aligned with national priorities in the implementation of presidential directives. She also emphasized the significance of improving development cooperation management to ensure that projects are implemented properly.
The minister further stated that the ministry is doing its best to improve Egypt’s economic diplomacy by ensuring that development partner initiatives align with the state’s strategic aims. She also emphasized the importance of promoting economic diplomacy through constructive partnerships with international institutions, improving technical support and knowledge exchange, effective monitoring of implemented projects with development partners, coordination between development partners and regional and international organizations, UN agencies, and beneficiary entities represented in ministries, government bodies, universities, research centers, and the private sector.
On the other hand, Afreximbank’s president thanked the minister for the warm reception, underlining the bank’s key connection with Egypt and the government’s generous support, particularly in hosting the Intra-African Trade Fair last year. He emphasized the significance of the conference in identifying areas of shared interest for collaboration with the Ministry of International Cooperation.
He explained that the bank has a long history of working with Egyptian institutions at both the governmental and private sector levels. Over the last five years, it has provided USD 30 billion in financing, including USD 16 billion to the financial sector, which has increased Egyptian companies’ ability to expand their operations across Africa.
