Egypt’s International Cooperation Minister Fayza Abul-Naga signed the third and last grant for the Rural Income and Economic Enhancement Project (RIEEP); a one-million-dollar offered by the Japan-financed Fund for African Private Sector Assistance (FAPA).

The RIEEP is implemented by Egypt's Social Fund for Development (SFD) under the supervision of the African Development Bank (AFDB).

The agreement was signed with AFDB Egypt Country Office Resident Representative Khushhal Khushiram in the presence of SFD Secretary General Hani Seif el-Nasr and Japanese Ambassador in Cairo Norihiro Okuda.

The project is aligned with Egypt's National Development Plan (2007-2012) which calls for the creation of approximately 750,000 new jobs every year in order to cope with new entrants to the workforce as well as reduce the current level of unemployment from around 9% to 5.5% by the end of the plan, Abul-Naga said.

The project will seek to sustainable improve the incomes of the economically active rural smallholder farmers engaged in the production, processing and marketing of selected agricultural commodities (horticulture, livestock and fisheries) by enhancing their participation in productive business alliances and access to affordable finance.

It will be carried out in three governorates in Upper Egypt: Menya, Assiut and Sohag, she added.

Global Arab Network