Egypt's Planning Ministry sheds light on 2 years of cooperation with Islamic Development Bank

CAIRO - 6 January 2021: Dr. Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Governor of Egypt at the Islamic Development Bank Group announced the results of cooperation between Egypt and the Bank Group within two years (August 2018 - December 2020).

With $ 12.7 billion, Egypt ranks third among countries receiving funding from the Islamic Development Bank, the minister said.

On Egypt's relationship with the Islamic Development Bank Group, Dr. Hala El-Said said that Egypt is one of the founding countries of the Islamic Development Bank, explaining that Egypt joined the bank’s membership in 1974 and has a permanent seat in the Board of Executive Directors.

She added that Egypt ranks seventh among the largest contributing countries and the owner of the largest number of shares in the bank, with 357,965 shares, or 7.07%, its capital subscription amounts to $ 5 billion.

El-Said pointed out that Egypt ranks third among the top ten countries most benefiting from the total appropriations of the Islamic Bank Group amounting to $ 12.7 billion, and the projects financed in Egypt are distributed according to the position on implementation as follows: 238 projects have been approved ($ 12.7 billion), 287 projects completed ($ 9.7 billion), 51 projects are ongoing ($ 3 billion).

This report is entailing the most important results of the cooperation between Egypt and the Islamic Development Bank

During the period from August 2018 - December 2020, an agreement was signed between the government of the Arab Republic of Egypt and the Islamic Development Bank Group in October 2018 to establish a representative office for the Islamic Development Bank Group in the Arab Republic of Egypt with all facilities granted for the establishment of the office headquarters, the appointment of employees and the completion of the implementation procedures to activate this agreement.

In the same month, a strategic cooperation agreement was signed between the Arab Republic of Egypt and the Islamic Development Bank for the period from 2019 to 2021, which included providing financing of about $ 3 billion for several projects in development areas that have priority for the Egyptian government, especially in the fields of energy and infrastructure.

In April 2019, Egypt participated in the opening of the 44th session of the annual meetings of the Board of Governors of the Islamic Development Bank, which was held in Marrakesh, Morocco, on 5 and 6 April 2019.

The results of the cooperation also included the holding of the "Transformers Roadshow" scientific competition in Cairo for the first time, during November 2019, which comes within the framework of the activities of the "Transformation" Fund to support science, technology, and innovation initiatives that have been established by the Islamic Development Bank since 2018.

During December 2019, a cooperation protocol was signed between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia project to benefit from the sacrifice (Ad-Dahaya) (Act of killing an animal or person and offering them to a god) and the Egyptian government to organize the sale of these sacrifices to Egyptian pilgrims.

About the results of cooperation with the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation, it included the signing of two framework agreements between the Arab Republic of Egypt and the Corporation during September 2018 to finance the supply of strategic goods for the benefit of Egypt through the institution, and during December 2018, the implementation of four projects in the fields of qualification and employment were completed. Youth in trade, addressing non-tariff measures to enhance intra-trade and enhancing labor skills in the food and home furnishing industries.

Moreover, the above-mentioned co-operation included the establishment of a specialized department to promote exports within the Egyptian Export Development Bank to provide better support to exporters, under the umbrella of the first phase of the Aid for Trade Initiative for Arab Countries (FTIAS) program, which Egypt contributes to its budget, and during October 2019 the Arab Republic of Egypt was officially joined to the Arab-African Trade Bridges Program (Phase II).

The cooperation with the corporation also included the signing of the corporation's financing program for 2020 during December 2019, which includes providing $ 700 million to the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation, of which $ 300 million has been disbursed to date and $ 400 million to the General Authority for Supply Commodities, of which $ 282 million has been disbursed to date.

 Also, during December, a cooperation program was signed with the General Authority for the Development of Egyptian Exports that includes a work plan according to which the program would implement some projects in support of Egyptian exporters during the years 2020 and 2021.

 In  June 2020, a meeting was held with Eng. HanySonbol - CEO of the International Islamic Corporation for Financing Trade during the visit of his Excellency to Cairo to discuss the position of cooperation issues between the Arab Republic of Egypt and the Corporation, as the total amounts approved by the Corporation in favor of Egypt amount to 11.2 billion US dollars during the period from (1985-2020) to finance the import of petroleum and its products in addition to food commodities and other products.

During the period from October to November 2020, coordination was made with the Egyptian Banking Institute to provide training for a total of 44 trainees from the Ministry of Supply and Internal Trade and the General Authority for Supply Commodities within the framework of the "Integrated Business Solutions" program.

The program included implementing three training courses during the period from October 12 to November 28, 2020, on the following topics: How to prepare financial statements, final accounts, the budget, and the budget for the government sector (22 trainees); Commercial banking transactions related to the import of goods (such as opening credits and letters of guarantee) (16 trainees); commercial transactions related to receiving goods, such as inspection and quality, especially for crops (6 trainees).

About the results of cooperation between Egypt and the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit of the Bank Group, it was represented by a meeting with representatives of the Corporation headed by Osama Abdel-Rahman Al-Qaisi, CEO of the Corporation during December 2018 to discuss ways of cooperation and a mechanism to encourage the services sector in countries that have achieved a breakthrough in this The sector and the possibility of applying these experiences in Egypt.