The CEO of Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) of the World Bank Group, Kiko Honda, said that her agency decided to increase its investments in Egypt, adding that the agency invested in some big projects including the Benban project with investments worth $210m and supporting Apache Egypt’s project with $150m.
Honda affirmed her agency’s keenness to invest in Egypt, during her meeting with minister of investment and international cooperation, Sahar Nasr on the side-lines of holding the 2018 African Caucus annual meetings which took place on 5 and 6 August.
While Nasr and Honda discussed boosting cooperation between both sides with the aim of increasing numbers of private sector investors, Honda said that MIGA pays attention to boosting Egyptian private sector, especially, over the next three years, noting that one of the agency’s main functions is promoting foreign direct investment in development to support economic growth, reduce poverty and improve people’s quality of life by providing insurance against risks for private sector investors.
Honda praised Egypt’s reform and its efforts to attract Foreign Direct Investments, affirming that Egypt’s experience is one of the successful reform experiences as the country invested in infrastructure projects.
For her part, Nasr said that the Egyptian government implemented many reform measures aiming at enhancing the business climate.
Nasr offered MIGA Egyptian projects that the agency would invest in including Suez Canal development project and Alamin projects, adding that government coordinates with international financial institutions for supporting Egypt’s development projects.
“One of ministry’s main tasks is protecting investors against investment risks,” mentioned Nasr.
After Honda’s meeting, Nasr met with representatives of the International Finance Cooperation (IFC) for discussing bilateral projects in terms of supporting private sector, small to medium enterprises and women’s projects.
Additionally, the IFC’s Vice President for the Middle East and Africa, Sérgio Pimenta, said that his organisation is keen to support the private sector’s participation in the fields of renewable energy in Egypt.
Pimenta noted that his organization is keen on providing technical support for implementing public-private partnership in the energy sector reaffirming the private sector’s contribution to offer employment opportunities for young people.