Egypt and Italy have agreed to begin negotiations for the 4th phase of their Debt Swap Program, explained a statement from the Ministry of International Cooperation (MoIC), with MoIC Minister Rania Al Mashat highlighting the importance of the program.

The Italian government is taking a keen interest in supporting the sectors targeted by Egypt’s Nexus of Water, Food and Energy (NWFE) Program, Italian Ambassador to Cairo, Michele Quaroni shared.

Al Mashat met with Michele Quaroni on Sunday to review the progress of the 3rd phase of the program valued at $100 million.

The 3rd phase has funded several projects related to food security and agriculture, higher education, civil society support, environment and cultural heritage conservation, women empowerment, the creation of 10 wheat storage hubs, and children empowerment and protection projects.

The meeting was attended by the representatives of the Italian Development Agency and the Technical Support Unit of the committee.

The Italian-Egypt debt swap program was established in 2001 worth $149 million of debt generated from aid credits, which financed 53 initiatives operating in sectors such as environmental protection, cultural heritage, rural development, small and medium enterprise development, education, and social protection.

With additional debt installment of $100 million, the implementation of the 2nd phase of the program began in 2007. This financed the implementation of 31 projects that, in continuity with the initiatives implemented under the first agreement, worked on issues such as human resource development, technology transfer, primary production development, environmental protection and social development.

Quaroni stated that, for the 4th phase, Italy is exploring projects in the Agro-food sector, aid for communities affected by climate change and food shortages, as well as investing in Egypt’s human capital.

During the meeting, Al Mashat praised the importance of the mechanism of the debt swap program, being implemented with the Italian side, which many development partners seek to emulate, which aims to alleviate the external debt burden on the Egyptian government.