Egypt to host the 3rd meeting of AATB program next December: Minister of Planning

Egypt’s Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Dr. Hala El-Said who is acting as Governor of the Arab Republic of Egypt at the Islamic Development Bank Group (IsDB), participated in the meeting of the Board of Governors of the Bank in Uzbekistan.
Dr. Hala El-Said had announced Egypt's success in obtaining the approval of the Board of Governors of the Islamic Development Bank to organize the annual meetings of the bank's governors next year, for the first time in 30 years, which reflects the positive view of the Egyptian situation and the confidence of member states in Egypt's capabilities.

El-Said’s activities included some bilateral meetings, where she met with Mr. Osama Al-Qaisi, CEO of the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit - the insurance arm of the Islamic Development Bank Group, to discuss aspects of cooperation between Egypt and the institution.

During the meeting, they discussed the trend towards the approval of member states to increase the capital of the Corporation to meet the increasing demands from countries for its services, especially concerning guaranteeing investment and export credit.


El-Said pointed out that the Corporation's total operations in the Arab Republic of Egypt amounted to $6.64 billion, and within the framework of the export credit insurance service, the Corporation has, since its inception, issued 152 insurance policies worth $2.17 billion for the benefit of two exporters.

 This is to support Egypt's exports, as it included many industrial and commercial sectors. About imports, the Corporation provided insurance coverage at a value of $2.67 billion to facilitate the supply of strategic goods to Egypt.

Concerning the plan of the Corporation in Egypt, the two parties discussed the Corporation's strategic plan to expand in the Egyptian market in the next phase, which is based on several pillars, including providing insurance support for infrastructure projects in the Egyptian market by securing the needs of high-tech capital goods.


The second pillar includes providing insurance support to the Egyptian government to secure its needs of strategic goods, the third pillar supporting the Egyptian state's orientation towards the African market, the fourth pillar encouraging the flow of foreign direct investments to the Egyptian market, and the fifth pillar developing the relationship with Egyptian banks in the field of trade finance.

The bilateral meetings also included a meeting with Eng. Hani Sonbol, CEO of the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation. During the meeting, El-Said confirmed Egypt's keenness to make the most of the Arab-African Trade Bridges Program, by submitting a proposal to support the establishment of the Expo Line Accelerator To support and enhance export activity through e-commerce.
 The Minister of Planning welcomed the holding of the third meeting of the Governance Council of the Arab-African Trade Bridges (AATB) Program in Cairo next December, noting that Egypt will assume the presidency of the council for a year. Affiliate 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 also participated in the side event "Sharia-compliant Green Finance", during her speech, she reviewed the policies taken by Egypt to facilitate the transition of government investment and the private sector towards a green economy, noting that the government also launched a "pricing tariff for renewable energy", to encourage the private sector.

The activity of the Minister of Planning of Uzbekistan included participating in the Bank’s Governors Roundtable, where she confirmed that the Bank Group can play an important role in implementing the national development plans of member countries and in a way that contributes to promoting job creation for young people through the expansion of funds directed to the small, medium and micro enterprises sector.

The Bank Group can also play an important role in stimulating entrepreneurship and spreading a culture of self-employment among young people and maximizing the benefit of the “Transformation” fund launched by the Bank to institutionalize its efforts to support science, innovation, and entrepreneurship initiatives with a capital of $500 million.