Ramón Gil-Casares — Spain's Ambassador to Cairo — expressed his appreciation for the fruitful cooperation between his country and the Egyptian government in implementing various development programmes, especially in the field of developing the capabilities and skills of women, enabling them to participate positively in achieving sustainable development. Casares explained that the agreement that the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) is currently implementing in cooperation with the Egyptian Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise Development Agency (MSMEDA) is the beginning of future steps of cooperation between the two countries. These remarks came as part of Casares' attendance in the closing activities of the training programme organised by the MSMEDA to develop women's skills in the field of handicraft industries based on palm waste in the village of West Aswan, which is included in the Decent Life Presidential Initiative as part of the funded 'Contributing to Creating Job Opportunities for Women in Upper Egypt Project'. This project is funded by the Spanish agency. The training programme, which lasted for 25 days, was organised in cooperation between the Agency and the Mehna and Mostkbl Foundation. After concluding the programme, the women were handed certificates of appreciation and a contract to publicise the production association that was established under the name 'Start Again' to include all the women participating in the training to help them market their products and increase the capabilities of their productive projects to ensure their continuity and expansion. The women also participated in a mini exhibition that included samples of their various products, allowing them to explain the different stages of manufacturing these products. Raafat Abbas — Head of the Central Sector for Non-Financial Services in the MSMEDA — explained that this training comes within the framework of the agreement signed between the agency and AECID that is being implemented in the governorates of Aswan, Fayoum, New Valley, Matrouh, North Sinai, and South Sinai, according to the directives of Nevine Gamea — the Minister of Trade and Industry and CEO of MSMEDA. Abbas added that the agency also provides various technical services through the mobile project development unit to reach customers in villages and centres in need, which professionally photograph the products of trainees and other handicraft owners and provide guidance and direction in the field of e-marketing and how to price products and build brands with the aim of contributing to marketing these products. He also highlighted the current cooperation between the agency and e-marketing platforms such as Jumia and Amazon to help project owners market their products.
