On the sidelines of the meetings of the Board of Governors of the Islamic Development Bank in Uzbekistan Egypt's Minister of Planning discusses with the ITFC CEO the establishment of an academy for exporters

Dr. Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Governor of Egypt at the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) met Engineer Hani Sonbol, CEO of the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), to discuss the position of issues of cooperation.
 The meeting came on the sidelines of the meetings of the Board of Governors of the Islamic Development Bank in Uzbekistan, which will be held until today, September 4th.



During the meeting, Dr. Hala El-Said praised the efforts and keenness of the Foundation to provide continuous support to the strategic sectors in the country during the crisis of the outbreak of the Corona Virus pandemic.
El-Said indicated that about $1.7 billion was approved, amounting to $961.51 million to the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation and $745 million to the General Authority for Supply Commodities, exceeding the initial allocations approved for the benefit of the two bodies within the framework of the Corporation's work program for the year 2021.
El-Said praised the Foundation’s efforts to coordinate with the Export Development Authority of the Egyptian Ministry of Trade and Industry to design a country program in the phase of responding to the Corona crisis, which included holding two workshops for the private sector and Egyptian exporters to the African market in the governorates of Cairo and Damietta, in addition to implementing the first training program for Egyptian exporters entitled “Entry for African markets”.During the meeting, Dr. Hala El-Said stressed Egypt's keenness to achieve maximum benefit through the Arab-African Trade Bridges Program, by submitting a proposal to support the establishment of the proposed Expo Line Accelerator for export. The Expo Line Accelerator aims to support and enhance export activity through e-commerce, thus achieving economic development and creating decent and productive job opportunities.El-Said indicated that the “Rowad 2030” Project of the Ministry of Planning has prepared a preliminary concept for the accelerator project, and it will be studied in coordination with the Ministry of Trade and Industry and all affiliated bodies and concerned parties to develop a comprehensive concept paper on the institution's contribution to the export business accelerator in question.The Minister of Planning welcomed the holding of the third meeting of the Governance Council of the Arab-African Trade Bridges Program in Cairo next December, noting that Egypt will assume the presidency of the council for a year, stressing keenness to make all necessary arrangements with the institution and the Egyptian authorities concerned in this regard.El-Said praised the returns achieved in favor of Egypt, under the umbrella of the first phase of the "Aid for Trade for Arab Countries" program, through participation in some projects in the fields of trade facilitation, trade corridors, youth employment, capacity support, addressing non-tariff measures, raising skills related to Egyptian exports, and enhancing the role of Egyptian exports.


El-Said explained that the total number of approved projects in favor of Egypt reached 9, between projects with a regional dimension and national projects.The Minister of Planning added that Egypt is keen to effectively contribute to the second phase of the program, by paying a financial contribution of $1.25 million over five years, starting from this year, at $250,000 annually.El-Said affirmed Egypt’s desire to achieve maximum benefit by participating in projects that will be approved and financed through the program, as Egypt intends to submit two priority project proposals, including the establishment of the first export academy in Egypt, where coordination is underway with the Ministry of Trade and Industry and all affiliated bodies to develop a comprehensive vision of the Academy's mission, vision, objectives and the type of contribution that the institution will make.Dr. Hala El-Said praised the Foundation’s efforts to complete the procedures for providing financing to the Medium, Small and Micro Enterprise Development Agency, within the framework of the framework agreement signed by the Egyptian government in 2018, allowing benefit from the Foundation’s services to open a new channel to pump the required financing to support and develop this important sector.On the new prospects for cooperation between Egypt - represented by many government agencies - and the Foundation; Dr. Hala El-Said indicated that she welcomed the work of the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation with the Ministry of International Cooperation to submit a proposal to expand financing for local banks in Egypt to support small and medium-sized companies.She also welcomed the Corporation's intention to provide a credit enhancement product during the current year, which will help local banks and the private sector in expanding business, and commended the Corporation's efforts to communicate with the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation and the General Authority for Supply Commodities to present the proposed digital solutions.El-Said expressed readiness to support the Corporation's endeavors to cooperate with the two bodies to digitize one of the operations (besides paperwork), in line with the efforts of the Egyptian state in implementing the customs system for pre-registration of shipments "ACI", which is to be implemented in Egyptian ports during the last quarter of this year.
It is noteworthy that the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation is an independent entity within the Islamic Development Bank Group, which was established to promote trade to improve economic conditions and the lives of people throughout the Islamic world.