Egypt, France sign energy, transportation, healthcare, SMEs deals

Egyptian government and its French counterpart signed 4 agreements in the fields of energy, transportation, healthcare, and SMEs worth €60 million.

The Minister of Electricity  Mohamed Shaker and the Minister of Investment and International Cooperation  Sahar Nasr signed a grant agreement worth EUR 1.5 million with the French Ambassador to Cairo Stéphane Romatet and  AFD’s Cairo Office Director Stéphanie Lanfranchi to enhance technical support of the energy sector, obtain optimum benefit from energy and improve energy supplies.

A simplified agreement worth EUR 8 million was also signed between  Nasr, Ambassador Romatet and Lanfranchi, in presence of the Minister of Transportation  Hesham Arafat, for the rehabilitation of Al-Raml Tram in Alexandria. It is a grant provided by the EU and managed by AFD to finance technical support of the project.

Moreover, the Nasr and the Minister of Health and Population, Ahmed Emad Eldin and the French side signed the executive agreement for the grant related to the primary healthcare support project worth €130.000 to enhance and improve access to sustainable primary healthcare services in five Egyptian governorates distributed as follows: 2 governorates in Delta area (Al-Sharqiya and Daqahlia) and 3 governorates in the Canal area (Suez, Ismailia and Port Said), in presence of representatives from the Ministry of Health.

The Minister also signed a joint declaration with the French side on providing € 50 million to finance a credit line for supporting microfinance and SMEs managed by women as well as a grant for developing the gender unit at the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (MSMEDA) concurrently with the International Women’s day (IWD), in presence of  MSMEDA’s Executive Director Nevin Game’.