The Minister of International Cooperation and Alternate Governor of Egypt at the New Development Bank (NDB) Rania Al-Mashat, met with the Vice President of the NDB, Vladimir Kazbekov, and his accompanying delegation, in the first high-level official visit of the bank to Egypt since Egypt joined the bank last year. During the meeting, Al-Mashat expressed the government's interest in deepening joint work with the bank within the framework of South-South cooperation and developing a plan for cooperation to enhance development efforts in various priority areas, especially after Egypt became a member of the BRICS group of countries. BRICS offers promising prospects for cooperation and integration with other development partners. Al-Mashat said: "The partnership with the NDB is of utmost importance to develop international cooperation frameworks in development projects and ensure that they respond to national needs and priorities. We can benefit from the bank's accumulated expertise. Egypt has partnerships with multilateral and bilateral development partners to implement development projects in the fields of infrastructure, energy, and human capital investment." She noted that the government was keen to strengthen the partnership with the bank in light of the Belt and Road Initiative – an important initiative that opens horizons for cooperation with many countries along the Belt and Road enhances investments in all sectors, supports public-private partnerships, and promotes infrastructure projects and South-South cooperation. The meeting also discussed the priorities for the next phase, especially the ongoing discussions in coordination with national parties to develop a future strategy for cooperation with the NDB, and preparing for the first visit of the President of the NDB. Al-Mashat explained that the Ministry of International Cooperation works to achieve integration and coordination between various multilateral and bilateral development partners, with different governance mechanisms, and ensure the participation of more than one partner in implementing development projects in Egypt. This reflects the strength of relationships, the precise formulation of the development projects, and the keenness of development partners to contribute to financing them and providing the required technical support, to maximize the impact and benefit from international partnerships. Al-Mashat presented the annual report of the Ministry of International Cooperation for the year 2023, titled "Platforms for Policy and Practice," to the Vice President of the Bank. The report includes an executive summary of the partnerships and development financing implemented during the past four years, amounting to $38.8 billion, including $28.5 billion to various state sectors, and $10.3 billion to the private sector. Egypt officially joined the NDB in March 2023, and Al-Mashat also participated in the 8th session of the annual meetings of the NDB, which was held in Shanghai, China. BRICS countries -Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa- agreed to establish the NDB at the 4th BRICS summit in New Delhi in 2012, and it was announced at the 5th summit in Durban in 2013 before it was signed.
