France plans to grant Egypt two loans worth €150 million (US$186.4 million) to finance household natural gas connection programme and small and medium-sized projects, Egyptian minister of international cooperation said. Minister Naglaa Al-Ahwani referred that the finance agreement was reached during Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's recent visit to France. The first loan is at value of €70 million designated to finance delivering natural gas to approximately 1.5 million houses across 11 governorates. The second loan, worth €50 million, aims to fund SMEs in Egypt in cooperation with the Egyptian Social Fund for Development (SFD). During a press conference on Sunday, Al-Ahwani also said the volume of cooperation portfolio between Egypt and France reached 27.9 billion francs (US$28.8 billion), through signing 40 economic development protocols during the period from since 1974-2008.
