CAIRO - The first phase of Egypt's plan to develop large-scale water desalination will cover 21 plants with a capacity of 3.3 million cubic metres daily at a cost of $3 billion, the CEO of the country's sovereign fund said on Thursday.

Egypt, which recently hosted the COP 27 U.N. climate talks and is trying to boost investment in renewables, aims to start production on its green hydrogen projects in 2025-2026, Soliman told the Reuters NEXT conference.

(Reporting by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Jan Harvey)