Egypt, France sign 9 bilateral agreements worth €262 M

CAIRO – 7 April 2025: On the occasion of the high-level official visit of French President Emmanuel Macron to Egypt, nine agreements were signed between the French Development Agency (AFD) and Egypt, in the presence of Ministers Kamel El-Wazir, Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, Rania Al-Mashat, and a number of French ministers.

The value of these projects amounts to €262.3 million in loans and grants, reflecting the depth and diversity of the organized and long-standing bilateral partnership between France and Egypt.

The agreements and contracts between Egypt and France, through the French Development Agency, span three main priority sectors: transportation, water, and energy.

In the transportation sector, an agreement was signed for the connection to the 10th of Ramadan Dry Port. This project will connect the dry port and the industrial zones in Rubiki, 10th of Ramadan, and Belbeis to the main seaports in Egypt.

Contributing to the Egyptian authorities' priorities for a dynamic and competitive private sector, the project, co-financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, aims to simplify export logistics, enhance the attractiveness of industrial value chains, alleviate road congestion, and promote a modal shift towards railways. It will support the economic activity of several hundred thousand workers in the connected industrial areas.

In the water and sanitation sector, an agreement was signed for the expansion of the Jabal Al-Asfar wastewater treatment plant. This expansion in Jabal Al-Asfar, one of the largest wastewater treatment plants in Africa, will add a treatment capacity of one million cubic meters per day, covering the needs of an additional 5.5 million people.

The project, co-financed by the European Union and the African Development Bank, combines energy efficiency (targeting 70% self-sufficiency), sludge recovery, a reduction of 900,000 tons of CO2 emissions annually, and the creation of more than 2,000 jobs.

An agreement was also signed for a new wastewater treatment plant in East Alexandria. This facility is designed to treat 300,000 meters per day and will provide reliable sanitation services to 1.5 million people in Egypt's second-largest city.

It will enhance the reuse of treated wastewater for irrigation, contribute to the decontamination of the marine environment, create many sustainable jobs, and include a sludge-to-energy system, helping to avoid 30,000 tons of CO2 emissions annually.

To enhance the quality and stability of electricity supply for approximately 9 million people, the AFD and the EU are supporting the modernization of the regional control center covering Alexandria and the North Coast.

The project will reduce technical losses by 10%, allow for faster fault detection, better integrate renewable energies into the national grid, and modernize systems to enable future interconnection with European markets.

By investing in the country's strategic infrastructure, in line with national priorities and for the benefit of the population, these projects help strengthen trust between France and Egypt. They also enhance synergies between public and private actors from both countries, with a strong European dimension, as evidenced by the two projects supported by the EU under the Global Gateway initiative.

In a statement, the AFD said that these projects reflect the shared ambition to deepen and renew the framework of French-Egyptian financial cooperation, as highlighted during this high-level bilateral sequence.

Since 2006, the AFD has been a key player in French-Egyptian cooperation, supporting the country's economic, social, and environmental transitions, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals and the government's 2030 vision.