Egypt's Minister of Environment Yasmine Fouad witnessed, on Sunday, the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the National Bank of Kuwait-Egypt (NBK) and the Bioenergy for Sustainable Rural Development Association. The MoU outlines the construction and operation of 61 units (57 household and 4 educational) for the production of biogas. Also present at the signing ceremony were: Yasser Abdel Quddous, Vice Chairperson and Managing Director of the NBK; Ahmed Aziz, Chairperson of Sohag University; and representatives of concerned ministries and authorities. Under the protocol, the NBK will pay the implementation costs on various biogas projects to the Bioenergy for Sustainable Rural Development. This will take place in the form of a grant of EGP 1.5m. The bank will also follow up the technical construction of these units in Sohag. The Bioenergy for Sustainable Rural Development will select the executing companies, and follow up on the implementation and technical supervision of the implementation. Fouad said that this cooperation comes as part of Egypt's efforts in achieving the national project for the development of villages, by disseminating the experience of producing biofuels from organic waste. She added that this initiative will be implemented in the villages of Sohag by a number of startups. As a result, the expected results of this initiative include providing green job opportunities and improving living conditions in the villages of Sohag. Fouad said that biogas technology embodies the idea of circular and green economies, and praised the House of Representatives' great roles in adopting the law regulating waste management. The law is based not only on integrated waste management, but also on partnership with civil society. It also considers the issue of waste from an economic perspective rather than just an environmental perspective. The minister added that Sunday's agreement reflects the true partnership between civil society, state institutions, residents of Egypt's villages in which the project will be implemented, and educational institutions.
