Minister of Investment and International Cooperation Sahar Nasr held talks with officials of the World Bank to agree on the procedures and timing of disbursement of a third tranche of $1bn of the total $3bn loan from the World Bank in support of the Egyptian economic reform programme. The minister did not disclose the timing of the disbursement of the third tranche, but previous government remarks said it will be in December. Egypt has received two tranches, each worth $1bn, since November 2016. Nasr also discussed the bank's support to the second phase of the sewage project in coordination with the Ministry of Housing. These talks were with Hafez Ghanem, the vice president of the World Bank for the Middle East and North Africa and Jan Walliser, vice president of the World Bank's global practices for equitable growth, finance, and institutions. The Ministry of Investment said in a statement on Saturday that the project, which is jointly funded with the Asian Bank for Infrastructure Investment, as a priority for all Egyptians living in villages. The minister also discussed with the bank the provision of technical support to the Ministry of Electricity within the renewable energy projects under the policy of the government to promote investments in the private sector's renewable energy projects, according to the statement. The two sides discussed ways of the World Bank's contribution to stimulating the microfinance in Egypt, thereby contributing to increasing opportunities for investment and employment for women and youth and encouraging entrepreneurship culture, according to the statement. The statement quoted Ghanem as saying that the bank provides full support to Egypt in order to inject new investments quickly, especially in the field of infrastructure, pointing out that Egypt is currently in a privileged position to attract more investments. "The World Bank believes that the economic reforms taken by the Egyptian government are spectacular," Ghanem said. He pointed out that the Egyptian government is moving well in the Takaful and Karama programme, where the bank intends to support them to increase social safety nets, stressing the bank's keenness to increase support for projects for youth, women, and education in Egypt. The meeting came on the sidelines of the World Bank annual meetings in Washington. The Egyptian delegation was headed by Nasr and with the attendance of Head of the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority Mohamed Omran, Egyptian Stock Exchange Chairperson Mohamed Farid, and Egypt's executive director at the World Bank, Ragi El Etreby. Nasr also discussed the World Bank's support to the education sector, especially that of basic education, in coordination with the Ministry of Education and the transportation sector in cooperation with the Ministry of Transportation. These discussions included Hartwig Shafe, vice president for operations and services. The two sides agreed that the bank should provide the necessary support to help push the role of the private sector in the economic and social development process in Egypt, as well as enhance the role of the bank in efforts to improve the climate that attracts the private sector and foreign investments.
