Egypt's Minister of International Minister participated at the AFD's 75th anniversary celebration on 23 November 2016, in presence of the Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources and the French Ambassador to Egypt Mr. André Parant. The celebration followed the signing of several agreements worth EUR 545 million between Dr. Nasr and a number of European development partners, namely the AFD, the KFW, the EIB and the EU.
The Minister, Dr. Sahar Nasr, delivered a speech expressing her appreciation of the French government's support of development in Egypt, the last of which was the AFD support of the energy sector through a soft loan worth EUR 150 million as well as its contribution to the Delta Regional Control Center Project with EUR 50 million . This in addition to a EUR 50 million contribution provided by the AFD to finance establishing the Gulf of Suez 200-250 mw combined windfarm which is worth EUR 345 million and co-financed by the EU, the KFW and the EIB. The project aims to achieve the target of 20% renewable energy from final energy consumption by 2020 within the framework of Egypt's keenness on implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The Minister commended the AFD's significant role in enhancing Egyptian- French relations since the establishment of its Cairo office in 2007. It has contributed to financing several pivotal projects in Egypt with approximately EUR 889 million, including EUR 886 million worth of loans and grants worth EUR 3.176 million as well as EUR 103 million granted by the EU and managed by the AFD. Such projects included financing small and micro enterprises in favor of the Social Fund for Development (SFD) with EUR 80 million, financing SMEs in the agricultural sector with EUR 30 million and improving water and wastewater services (the first phase with EUR 40 million and the second with EUR 57 million), besides providing EUR 300 million to finance the third line of Cairo metro and managing a grant agreement worth EUR 68 million for the Household Natural Gas Connection Project to which the AFD contributes with EUR 70 million.
