The European Investment Bank (EIB) will provide soft loans worth €4 billion to Egypt to implement Nexus of Water, Food and Energy (NWFE) projects until 2030.

The announcement was made by Rania A Al-Mashat, the Egyptian Minister of International Cooperation during her closing speech at the European Investment Bank MED conference on Monday.

NWFE, launched during COP27 last year, is Egypt’s national platform for green projects to accelerate the pace of green transformation and implement the climate action agenda.

Al-Mashat reminded the attendees that during COP27, Egypt and the EIB had signed a partnership agreement within the energy axis of the NWFE programme, in addition to other agreements in transport and water, as well as enhancing food security.

She explained that the her Ministry is working to enhance the country's development priorities and in this regard, the development cooperation portfolio includes more than 36 projects to achieve the SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, with a value of $5.7 billion, representing approximately 22 percent of the total portfolio, 30 projects under SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities with a value of $1.5 billion, and  34 projects for SDG  7:  Affordable and Clean Energy with a value of $5.9 billion.

EIB’s current development portfolio in Egypt totals €3.5 billion.

The Minister noted early in her speech that the infrastructure sector in Egypt has witnessed significant growth over the past years, mainly driven by strong political will and efforts to develop effective partnerships between the government and private sectors.

She also referred to the efforts made by the Government to develop 14 smart cities and develop urban communities in a way that enhances investment opportunities for the private sector to participate in their development.

(Writing by Eman Hamed; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)