The Egyptian government will implement about 7 new projects in collaboration with the ‘Agence française de développement' (AFD), two of which are with the Ministry of Transportation worth of about €140m, a governmental source told Daily News Egypt on condition of anonymity. The first project with the Transportation Ministry is the development of metro line 1 with a loan worth of €50m. The second project is duplication of the Mansoura-Damietta railway and modernisation of signals systems with €90m expected funds in collaboration with the European Investment Bank (EIB), the source explained. Egypt's Ministry of Finance will cooperate with AFD to implement a new programme entitled ‘The Fund for Technical Expertise and Experience Transfers (FEXTE)', the source added. He noted that this programme will mainly be directed to support the efforts of Egypt's Health Ministry to realise its vision toward the social medical insurance with a grant worth of €1m. Health Ministry will also benefit from another project financed by the AFD with $120m to establish a plant for plasma derivatives with a capacity of 1.2 m litres plasma, the source mentioned. Moreover, the ministry will take an initial sum worth of €25m to €40m from the AFD to develop emergency services in Egyptian hospitals. Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research is expected to cooperate with the AFD to re-establish the French University of Egypt (UFE) with a loan worth of €45m, the source revealed. Another grant would be allocated to the Ministry of Supply and Internal Trade worth of €0.7m for development of the local retail markets through a technical assistance programme. AFD will invest about €1bn in Egypt for the next five years in different sectors, Fabio Grazi, the AFD's country director in Egypt, told DNE in February 2019, explaining that the new investments will be mainly directed to develop the infrastructure and to promote social cohesion. "We are happy to agree with the Egyptian partners on the sectors with priorities for the country's strategy in the next five years," he commented, noting that the AFD will support the Egyptian side to integrate with the African markets.
