Cairo will host the third Euro-Mediterranean Conference for funding on 9 February, according to a statement on Monday by the head of the General Union of Chambers of Commerce and vice-president of the Federation of the Mediterranean Chambers, Ahmed al-Wakeel.
The conference aims to display the available mechanisms for trade, industry and services to the private sector in Egypt and the southern countries of the Mediterranean. Wakeel said the step would encourage economy and exports as well as attract investments.
He pointed out that representatives for the European Union, World Bank, Development Bank of Africa, Islamic Development Bank, European Investment Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and Japanese, Chinese, Italian, Spanish and Canadian aid agencies would participate in the event.
Mohamed Zaki al-Suwaidy, Chairman of the Federation of Industries, said that the conference also intends to open channels of communication with donors that have not dealt with Egypt before, as well as maximizing the use of grants and funding mechanisms facilitators that are available for the Mediterranean region as a whole.
Suwaidy said that donor agencies are currently one of the basic ways to finance growth and modernization plans which they seek to implement through a variety of regional and sectoral projects.
The conference will discuss non-bank funding mechanisms that have succeeded in driving growth in many developed countries.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
