For Spain, Egypt has been strategically positioned in cooperation, according to the fifth master plan for cooperation. According to the latest data from the investment registry of the Ministry of State for Trade, the volume of Spanish investments in Egypt is estimated at €809m.
Many of the most prominent projects were recently funded by the Egyptian and Spanish sides. In this regard, Spanish investments were injected into the construction, lighting of some archaeological sites, and revamping of the railways in Egypt. These projects include Gamesa’s Jabal Al Zayt Bay wind farm project with a capacity of 120 megawatts, at a value of €119.2m. This is in addition to injecting investments worth €30m for upgrading the safety and lighting systems of some archaeological sites. Regarding revamping the railway systems in Egypt, Investments worth €158.9m were injected for the rehabilitation of 23 trains of the first line of the Greater Cairo Metro, which is being implemented by the Construction Auxiliary Company for Railways (CAF). Further, a contract was reached between Talgo and Egyptian Railways in August 2022 to acquire 7 new sleeper trains, including maintenance for a period of 15 years, at a value of €200m.
“The Spanish government announced the doubling of international cooperation funds in 2023, and therefore an increase in the bilateral budget with Egypt is expected. The total volume of official development assistance provided in the past period 2015-2021 amounted to nearly €50m,” the Spanish ambassador to Egypt said.
The new program plan also defines four areas of action: combating poverty, gender equality, just environmental transformation, green economy, and immigration.
“The Spanish International Agency for Development Cooperation is currently implementing 21 projects with a total budget of €11m, covering the sectors of gender equality, water, rehabilitation and employment, democratic governance, institutional strengthening, and cultural cooperation,” said the ambassador.
