Egypt’s Ministry of International Cooperation announced that the ‘Nouwfi’ program, a government-adopted platform for green projects, had raised $10.3 billion in concessional development funds after signing a number of partnership agreements and letters of intent with “multilateral and bilateral development partners” and international institutions to finance World Food Program (WFP) projects in the water, food, and energy sectors.
“Among the funds collected during Egypt’s hosting of the United Nations Climate Conference (COP27), two billion dollars are investments for the private sector to stimulate its involvement in development efforts and enhance its participation in the transition to a green economy and push that trend forward,” the Ministry said in a statement.
Nouwfi’s investments total $14.7 billion, with $10 billion going to the energy sector, 1.35 billion going to the water sector, and 3.35 billion going to agriculture and food security.
In a separate statement, the ministry announced the signing of $2.24 billion in soft development funds to implement a number of development projects and develop sustainable infrastructure that encourages private sector participation, with a number of “development partners” in transportation, housing, electricity, renewable energy, food security, and the environment.
In terms of sustainable water resource management, funding has been signed for three projects. The first is a $12 million grant from the German Agency for International Cooperation in support of the Nile Delta Management Program project, and the second is a $10 million grant from Switzerland for Upper Egypt Drinking Water Management Project (Phase II). The third is a $50 million loan from the Kuwait Fund for Development to fund the construction of four water desalination plants in the South Sinai Governorate.
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In addition, the African Development Bank signed a $92 million development financing agreement for the Electricity and Green Growth Support Program, as well as a $1 million grant from the French Development Agency for strategic technical cooperation between Egypt and France to develop the green hydrogen sector.
Moreover, the Egyptian government signed four development financing agreements in the food security sector, the first of which was a $500 million deal with the World Bank Group within the framework of the emergency project to support food security and flexible response to support plans to expand wheat storage silos and enhance food security, and the second of which was a $271 million agreement with the Bank Group African development to support food security efforts.
Meanwhile, the third agreement is for $111 million in development funding from the European Union as part of the Food Facility Initiative, and the fourth is for $47 million in development funding from the US Agency for International Development for the Agribusiness Agreement Project for Rural Development and Income Increase.
Furthermore, in the environment sector, the ministry announced the signing of a $15 million grant agreement with the US Agency for International Development as part of the Climate Initiative agreement.
