This file photo taken on Jan 13, 2021 shows the headquarters building of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in Beijing, capital of China. (PHOTO / XINHUA)
CAIRO – Egypt seeks to expand its collaboration with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in funding the development of Egypt's economy, the Egyptian finance minister said on Monday.
Mohamed Maait, also governor of Egypt at the AIIB, made the remarks during his meeting in the Egyptian capital Cairo with the visiting AIIB's vice-president Ludger Schuknecht, according to a statement published by the Egyptian Ministry of Finance.
The AIIB's investment portfolio in Egypt has exceeded $1 billion in several sectors since the beginning of their cooperation in 2016, Maait said, noting that Egypt is one of the founding members and the largest African shareholder in the bank.
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Referring to the fruitful cooperation between the two sides, Maait reaffirmed that "Egypt has been promoting an incentive climate for luring domestic and foreign investments."
The two officials also discussed the preparations for hosting the annual meetings of AIIB in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in September after four years of online gatherings due to the outbreak of COVID-19
"We aspire that the AIIB will contribute to issuing Panda bonds in Chinese currency in Egypt in the coming period for establishing social and environmentally friendly projects," he said.
Panda bonds are Chinese renminbi-denominated debts sold by overseas issuers to meet financing demand.
On Saturday, the African Development Bank, another multilateral development finance institution, approved a partial credit guarantee of $345 million to Egypt to facilitate the county's access to the panda bonds market.
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The two officials also discussed the preparations for hosting the annual meetings of AIIB in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in September after four years of online gatherings due to the outbreak of COVID-19.
This year's annual meeting will be an excellent platform for pushing multilateral developmental partnerships between institutions and developing countries, according to the statement.
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The AIIB, a China-initiated multilateral financial institution, began its operation in January 2016 with an agenda focusing on supporting sustainable development through infrastructure and other productive sectors in Asia and beyond.