The Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development ( Khalifa Fund ) and Egypt's Social Fund for Development (SFD) signed a framework agreement on Wednesday outlining joint efforts to boost development and opportunities for small and micro sized enterprises in Egypt. The agreement was signed on the sidelines of the Gulf-Egyptian Investment Forum 2013, which kicked off in Cairo for two days; December 4th and 5th. Ibrahim Ahmed Al Mansouri - Khalifa Fund ‘s Chief Operations Officer; and Ghada Wali - SFD's General Secretary - signed the agreement in the presence of the Egyptian Prime Minister, Dr. Hazem El Beblawi, U.A.E. Minister of State, Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Egypt's Deputy Prime Minister for the Economic Affairs and Minister of International Cooperation, Dr. Ziad Bahaa-Eldin and the U.A.E.'s Ambassador to Egypt, Mohammad bin Nukheira Al Daheri. The framework agreement stipulates that the U.A.E. will provide US $ 200 million (AED 736 million), via the Khalifa Fund , to the SFD in order to catalyse the start-up of small and micro sized enterprises with the overarching goal for these businesses to achieve significant socio-economic impact throughout Egypt. The agreement aims to establish a mutually-beneficial framework for future cooperation between both entities through investments in projects which will contribute to the development of impoverished areas throughout the country, with a focus on expanding social funding programmes for women and youth with an objective of increasing employment opportunities and income generation.
