In Less than 2 Weeks, World Bank Delegation Arrives in Cairo on New Aids

Heading from the UAE, A delegation from World Bank headed by WB Executive Director Mirza Hasan arrived on Friday in Cairo in a five-day visit to meet with a number of Egyptian officials, in search for new projects to be funded by the international lender.

Egyptian senior sources said the World Bank delegation is set to meet with a number of the country’s officials in Ministries of International Cooperation, Electricity, Irrigation, Transportation, and Aviation along with a number of other sectors. The World Bank is aiming to review projects which are included in the WB’s current funding schedule along with new ventures that can be put in the international lender’s funding plan for the upcoming phase.

The World Bank portfolio in Egypt, the largest in the MENA region, includes 21 projects for a total commitment of US$ 4.6 billion.

This comes after a week earlier visit paid by a high-profile World Bank delegation headed by WB Vice President for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Inger Andersen for the first time since 30 June uprising and the military-backed removal of Egyptian former president Mohamed Morsi.

World Bank asserted that it would continue its support to Egypt in order to increase job creation, energy sector reform, set-up social safety nets, education, transport, water and sanitation, agriculture and irrigation.

“Egypt has the potential to become a powerful emerging economy and the World Bank group is committed to supporting the country’s priorities to reduce poverty and achieve shared prosperity,” Andersen said.

The World Bank is currently giving its support to Egypt Emergency Labor Intensive Investment Project designed to create a quarter million jobs which, according to the international lender, “will generate immediate, short-term employment for unemployed, unskilled and semi-skilled workers through investments in public works in vulnerable communities”.