Rania Al-Mashat, Egypt's Minister of International Cooperation, has discussed with Praveen Agrawal, the new Country director of the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) in Egypt, areas of joint cooperation, according to a statement from the Ministry of International Cooperation on Tuesday. During the meeting, the minister presented the Ministry of International Cooperation's work strategy, which aims to strengthen relations with multilateral and bilateral development partners, to support the country's development vision and move towards implementing the sustainable development goals. The Minister congratulated Praveen Agrawal for assuming his new position as Country Director of WFP Egypt Office, wishing him a fruitful period of work and building effective development projects and partnerships during the tenure. The Minister of International Cooperation reviewed the role played by the ministry, in accordance with resolution No. 303 of 2004, to develop and strengthen economic relations between Egypt and its multilateral and bilateral development partners, to provide soft development funds to various sectors of the state as well as the private sector. She also touched on the topic of the ministry's endeavor to expand the partnership with the World Food Program, especially in the field of developing rural communities and enhancing livelihoods for lower-income communities in Upper Egypt, as well as its aspiration to consolidate relations within the scope of the new WFP country strategy in Egypt 2023-2027, within the strategic framework of the partnership with the United Nations. The two sides discussed the possibility of turning the Luxor Center for Innovation and Knowledge Exchange, which was launched by the program in Luxor, into a center of excellence, to be the first of its kind in Africa and part of the WFP's Centers of Excellence initiative, which are platforms for achieving food security and addressing malnutrition among developing countries through sharing knowledge and experiences. For his part, Agrawal said that the program seeks to focus on joint work with Egypt within the framework of the new strategy 2023-2027, through the following axes: food security and nutrition, building community resilience, social protection, private sector participation, and support for refugees. The current portfolio between Egypt and WFP amounts to $586m. Through this programme, several projects were implemented, the most important of which is the project to achieve agricultural and rural development in Upper Egypt, as the programme implemented projects in 63 villages in five governorates during its first phase.
