ChatGPT said: Egypt is advancing the second phase of the Lake Victoria–Mediterranean (VIC-MED) corridor, backed by a $2 million African Development Bank (AfDB) grant and $100,000 from the government, the transport ministry said Thursday. Industrial Development and Transport Minister Kamel El-Wazir announced the progress during the Luanda Summit on Financing Infrastructure Development in Africa, where he represented President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi at the Presidential Infrastructure Champion Initiative (PICI) roundtable. El-Wazir said the funding will support the main operational unit in Cairo, which began operations on June 22, 2025, and finance environmental, social and technical studies along the Nile River. He said the VIC-MED project is key to achieving the African Union's Agenda 2063 by improving trade links, expanding market access and generating employment. The first phase of the project, completed in July 2019 with $650,000 in AfDB funding, developed the legal and institutional framework and launched two regional inland water transport programmes. The second phase, valued at $11.7 million, aims to build on those foundations. As chair of the African Union Development Agency's Steering Committee of Heads of State and Government, El-Wazir reaffirmed Egypt's commitment to narrowing Africa's infrastructure financing gap and advancing green corridors, energy and agricultural projects under Agenda 2063's Second Ten-Year Implementation Plan. Attribution: Amwal Al Ghad English Subediting: Y.Yasser
