Egypt's Planning Minister, World Bank delegation discuss future cooperation plans

WB's Merza Hussain praised Egyptian state approach in dealing with coronavirus pandemic, managing to achieve economic recovery

Egyptian Minister of Planning and Economic Development Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, held a meeting with Merza Hussain, Dean of the Board of Executive Directors at the World Bank Group, Ragui El-Etreby, Alternate Executive Director at World Bank Group for Egypt and the Arab Countries to discuss ways of cooperation.
During the meeting, El-Said showcased several ministry work files and projects that are currently being implemented, especially the structural reforms aimed at increasing the contribution of the industry, agriculture, and communications sectors to the Egypt's gross domestic product (GDP).
El-Said also presented the features of the presidential initiative "Decent Life" as the largest development initiative in the world in terms of its scope.
Decent Life aims to improve the quality of more than 50 million citizens with a budget of EGP 800bn in 3 years and achieve all the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
During the meeting, El-Said referred to the family development project, which aims to improve the demographic characteristics of Egyptian society.
Moreover, El-Said highlighted the activities of The Sovereign Fund of Egypt (TSFE) as an arm of the Egyptian state in building partnerships with the private sector and improving the utilisation of untapped assets through some sub-funds such as education, health, and infrastructure.
Hussain praised the steps taken by the Egyptian state to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, and the ability of the Egyptian economy to recover in light of international economic conditions.
He stressed the bank's interest in deepening cooperation with Egypt and supporting it with all the programmes it offers to achieve further economic progress.
The meeting touched on economic recovery from pandemic impacts, Egypt's interest in the green economy and the issuance of the first green bonds to finance environmentally friendly projects. It also tackled the Egyptian government's goal to raise the percentage of green projects in the public investment plan to 30% of the budget for the current fiscal year as well as the issuance of environmental sustainability standards in cooperation with the Ministry of Environment.
The meeting was attended by Nada Masoud, Economic Adviser to the Minister of Planning, Sherifa Sherif, and Executive Director of the National Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development (NIGSD), Gamil Helmy, Egypt's Assistant Minister of Planning for Follow-up Affairs of the Sustainable Development Plan, and Ambassador Hazem Khairat, Supervisor of the International Cooperation Office at the Ministry.