Egypt receives $7.3bn in funds despite pandemic in 2020

Minister Al-Mashat said that the government has worked on several axes to deal with the crisis, including regional integration.

Egypt’s Ministry of International Cooperation has been able to agree on $7.3bn in development funds from multilateral and bilateral partners since the beginning of the year, of which $2.7bn is being directed to the private sector, according to Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of International Cooperation.

Minister Al-Mashat said that the government has worked on several axes to deal with the crisis, including regional integration. As part of this, it has launched a regional gas forum in cooperation with neighboring countries, and has also conducted the first joint higher committee with Iraq in 30 years, that resulted in many memorandum of understanding in vital sectors.

The minister’s remarks came during her participation in the “Turning Crisis into Opportunity: Fostering A Sustainable Recovery for the Future” panel, part of the 6th Edition of the Rome 2020 Mediterranean Dialogues under the theme “Rethinking Prosperity”.

Hosted by Amy Kellogg from Fox News and Karim El Aynaoui, President of Morocco’s Policy Center for the New South, other participants included: Hamad Bin Sulaiman Al Bazai, Deputy Minister of Finance, Saudi Arabia; Guy Ryder, Director General of the International Labour Organization (ILO); and Jeffrey Schlaegnhauf, Deputy Secretary General, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The discussion revolved around the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and the successful policies and measures taken to mitigate the socio-economic impact on countries.