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Government discusses providing funds to support activities of SME Development Agency MSMEDA pumps EGP 36bn into small, micro, and labour-intensive projects within 7 years: Gamea
Nevine Gamea, Minister of Trade and Industry, and Executive Director of the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (MSMEDA), on Wednesday met with Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of International Cooperation, to discuss ways to provide the necessary funds to expand the activities of MSMEDA and support small projects. Gamea said that MSMEDA has gained the confidence of a large number of international donors, especially after project financing rates have doubled in recent years and injected financing amounting to about EGP 36bn in direct lending to more than 1.4 million small and micro projects were financed, in addition to labour-intensive infrastructure projects. She confirmed that the agency is currently seeking to establish an electronic link with all government agencies concerned with the development of projects to provide services in an easier way for citizens, according to a protocol recently signed with the Ministry of Communications. She indicated that cooperation with these agencies and donor countries is carried out through the Ministry of International Cooperation and within the framework of working to achieve the goals of sustainable development and Egypt's vision 2030. For her part, Rania Al-Mashat confirmed that the Ministry of International Cooperation is working with its multilateral and bilateral development partners to provide support to small and medium enterprises and entrepreneurs, especially women and youth. Al-Mashat indicated that the Ministry of International Cooperation is working to develop the small and medium enterprise sector through development finance, pointing out that in 2020, the ministry agreed on many development funds for the small and medium enterprise sector, including $457m for the government sector, and $3.2bn in financing to the private sector, a large part of which are credit lines to local banks that re-lend them to small and medium-sized enterprises through development partners such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank and the World Bank, in addition to the Saudi grant amounting to $200m through the Saudi Fund for Development, which has so far contributed to financing more than 2,500 projects in various development sectors in 27 governorates, providing more than 12,000 job opportunities, and promoting the implementation of the sustainable development goals.
