France to Provide 175m Euros to Fund Egypt's Energy Sector

France plans to provide 175 million euros to finance Egypt's energy sector, French Minister of Development and Francophone Jean-Marie Le Guen said during a meeting in Cairo with International Cooperation Minister Sahar Nasr on Tuesday.

In an official statement on its website, the Egyptian ministry said that 150 million euros of the total funding will be allocated for electricity and 25 million euros for oil. It was not clear whether the finance would be in the form of a loan or grant.

The ministers discussed Egypt-France development cooperation and possible development projects for the future.

Among those proposed were the Alexandria Tram Development Project, the Alexandria West Wastewater Treatment Plant Expansion and Upgrade Project, and the Healthcare Development Program in Egypt’s governorates.

Nasr hailed the role of Agence française de developement (AFD) — the French development agency — in promoting cooperation between the two countries.

The AFD has financed a number of projects, most notably small- and micro-financing projects for Egypt's Social Fund for Development, along with the delivery of natural gas to houses and improvements to drinking water and sanitation services.

France previously implemented several important projects in Egypt, such as the third line of the Cairo metro (Phases II & III), support for small- and micro enterprises, and the project for Improving Water and Wastewater Services (Phases I & II).

In Tuesday's meeting, the two sides discussed the latest developments in bliateral agreements signed during President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s meeting with his French counterpart François Hollande when the latter visited Cairo in April 2016.

During the visit, Egypt and France signed several financial deals worth more than 1.5 billion euros, as well as memorandums of understanding in the fields of transport, energy, renewable energy, gas and tourism.

According to the website of the Central Bank of Egypt on Tuesday, the euro stands at 19.6 Egyptian pounds.