Egypt's Ministry of Planning and Economic Development announced, on Thursday, the details of the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation's (ITFC) finance cooperation programme in Egypt for the year 2021. The programme was signed on Wednesday by ITFC CEO Hani Salem Sonbol; Executive Vice President of the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) Ashraf Abdullah; and Vice-Chairperson of the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC) Ahmed Youssef. The signing was attended by: Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development and Egypt's Governor at the Islamic Development Bank Group; Tarek El Molla, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources; Ali Meselhi, Minister of Supply and Internal Trade; Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of International Cooperation; and Nevine Gamea, Minister of Trade and Industry. The ITFC intends to carry out a set of activities in Egypt during 2021, which comes in light of the framework agreement signed between Egypt and the corporation in 2018 for five years with a credit limit of $3bn, and the two frameworks Murabaha agreements signed between the corporation and the EGPC, and the General Authority for Supply Commodities in the same year. These activities are represented in financing trade by providing Murabaha financing operations of $1.1bn to the EGPC and the General Authority for Supply Commodities. The enterprise's activities also include trade and business development; whereas, the ITFC will coordinate with the relevant ministries and Egyptian authorities to implement a set of programs and projects in Egypt during 2021, including integrated trade solutions. By submitting projects that will be agreed upon and implemented during the current year to build capabilities and upgrade the skills of workers in the entities benefiting from the commercial financing provided by the Corporation; By focusing on the priority sectors of the state. About the ITFC's main programmes: there is the Arab-African Trade Bridges (AATB) programme, which aims to develop Egyptian exports to African countries in cooperation with the Export Development Authority (EDA) and other relevant bodies. Another programme is the Aid for Trade Initiative for Arab Countries (Aftiyas), where it will work on adopting projects to develop trade. About targeted interventions: in 2021, the focus will be on initiatives and projects that are: The "Better Cotton" initiative; This initiative, led by UNIDO in partnership with the Foundation, aims to increase the competitiveness of Egyptian cotton in global markets, and the "Women in Global Trade / She Trades" project. This project, which is supervised by the ITFC through the Aftiyas programme, aims to empower the Egyptian woman economically by raising the exports of the companies she owns in the handicraft sector, in addition to projects for the digitalization of commercial operations The ITFC will work with the relevant Egyptian authorities to design and approve a project for the digitisation of commercial finance.
