Background Information
Egypt is another key actor in the context of South-South Cooperation supporting development projects in many developing countries. Under coordination of the Egyptian Fund for Technical Cooperation with Africa (EFTCA), it has benefited more than 30 countries in Africa and has overseen at least 45 projects to date. Egypt has also sent at least 90 short-term and 140 long-term experts to provide training and facilitate knowledge-sharing on a variety of issues, including health, agriculture, water resources and education. Another important initiative is the establishment of the Egyptian Fund for Technical Cooperation with Commonwealth (EFTCC) countries. Egypt is also initiating innovative modalities of cooperation on the South-South with the implementation of trilateral cooperation with developing country acting in specific country programmes as the case of the Turkish-Egyptian cooperation in Africa. Egypt has opened a US$10 million centre for transferring technology and promoting innovation-based industrial development among African countries. The country has recently established the South–South Industrial Cooperation Centre (SICC).
Examples of Key Projects of Egypt
Egyptian Fund for Technical Cooperation with Africa
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The Egyptian Fund for Technical Cooperation with Africa has assisted the implementation of a larger number of projects in African countries mainly in areas such as health, agriculture, education, environment, water and irrigation among others. The government of Egypt has provided experts and food, medicine and logistic assistance to many African countries. The Egyptian includes also training courses and implementation of field projects in the mentioned areas of action. One example of the Egyptian cooperation is the project to enhance human capabilities in the field of water resources and irrigation, as a main factor in the development process and facing poverty in the Nile Basin. The Egyptian Fund for Technical Cooperation with Africa, received scholars from Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, Ethiopia and Kenya to acquire joint water resources diploma for the academic year 2007/2008, in coordination with the Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University. In the health field, the Fund's secretariat dispatched expert engineers in the field of medical equipments maintenance to Cameron, as to assist in training human cadres in this field, to limit infection, and benefit from the technology in the field of medical engineering. In Somalia, the Egyptian Fund helps the world Food Programme to provide rapid food aids for the Somali People especially in the war-torn regions.
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Egyptian Fund for Technical Cooperation with Commonwealth
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The Egyptian Fund for Technical Cooperation with Commonwealth countries (EFTCC) (CIS – Commonwealth of Independent Countries) organizes a range of training courses in areas such as tourism, culture, crime and investigation, Arab language, migration, medical industries, among others. These programmes have benefited countries such as Uzbekistan Moldova, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Albania, Armenia, Tajikistan, Russia, and Mongolia. One example of EFTCC programmes is the training course granted to Kazakhstan scholars in which the fund provided over 170 training courses in various fields for over 1200 trainees in Egyptian Universities. The EFTCC paid the expenses of dispatching (15) short-term experts (travelling expenses and monthly remuneration) in the domains of transportation, establishing charity organization, agricultural products processing, family planning programmes and scientific missions. The Fund provided also the expenses of 70 long-term Arabic teaching experts, including travel expenses and monthly remuneration. Many other similar programmes have benefited other members of the CIS.
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| Trilateral Cooperation on South-South Basis with Islamic Development Bank |
Another example of triangular cooperation is the memorandum of understanding signed with the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) in 2007 to activate the cooperation agreement signed between both sides in 1991. According to this agreement, cooperation between the Fund and the Bank will be promoted to benefit the African countries in the fields of communication and information technology, as well as the rehabilitation of health, educational, and professional institutions. The agreement also stipulates the establishment of specialized sections for financing and preserving agricultural products, organizing training courses in Arabic Language, as well as the health and medical fields, in addition to dispatching medical convoys and training nurses. These areas meet the requirements of several countries such as Guinea Conakry, Somalia, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Chad, Comoros, and other African countries. The projects aims to contribute to enhancing the efficiency of the human factor in Africa, developing the skills of the African woman to improve her status in society, as well as reducing poverty and alleviating its negative economic and social impacts, which comes in accordance with the main goals of the EFTCA. |
| Trilateral Cooperation on South-South Basis with Turkey |
In the beginning of 2008, the Secretary General of the Egyptian Fund for Technical Cooperation with Africa has signed a memorandum of understanding with the representative of the Turkish Governmental Agency for Technical Assistance in order to expand the scope and prospects of trilateral cooperation with various donor organizations and Agencies in Africa. The cooperation aims to enhance African capabilities and dispatch Egyptian experts to work in economic and social fields. Training sessions will also be held in Cairo for African cadres in the fields of agriculture, environment, health, security, justice and other fields of development through the joint cooperation that will be established between the Egyptian and Turkish sides. The South-South Cooperation among two technical cooperation agencies of the developing world is an innovative process which serves as example for many other potential actors. Most Recently, Brazil have also agreed to work with Indonesia in East Timor, other examples which make another example of this modality of cooperation. The Egypt-Turkey partnership intends to broader the scope of trilateral cooperation with various donor countries and agencies as one of the means by which the Fund seeks to increase its resources to contribute in achieving sustainable development in Africa, and promote the Egyptian role in the Continent according to the official notes of the Egyptian government.
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Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Egypt
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