The World Bank has approved $500 million in development funding to boost Egypt’s efforts to achieve food security and build economic resilience in the face of the current crisis facing the world.
According to the Egyptian Ministry of International Cooperation, the emergency response project between Egypt and the World Bank Group should help support food security and resilience efforts, as well as mitigate the effects of the Russian-Ukrainian war and its impact on food security, especially since Russia and Ukraine are one of the largest exporters of wheat in the world. The ongoing war contributed to the rise in wheat prices and its shortage in the market.
Minister for International Cooperation and Governor of Egypt at the World Bank Group, Rania Al-Mashat, said the joint project with the World Bank supports the government’s strong commitment to ensure that it continues to meet citizens’ needs for strategic goods that are the prime concern of the Egyptian state and strengthening food security. , despite changing global conditions, as well as crises caused by the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic and the Russian-Ukrainian war, promoting sustainable food security, moving to scale up actions at the climate action level, and increasing the resilience of agriculture and production through problem solving, related to climate change.
The Minister of International Cooperation pointed out that the Egyptian government has made unremitting efforts in recent years that have contributed to enhancing its ability to cope with the sudden upheavals caused by the Russian-Ukrainian war, as Egypt launched a plan to expand wheat storage bunkers. who rely on the latest technology to save and reduce wheat. On the other hand, the country is constantly expanding the agricultural area of strategic crops, including wheat, which has contributed to increasing its ability to store wheat and grain, as well as increasing efforts to achieve food security.
The current project aims to finance wheat purchases to enhance the government’s ability to secure stocks, using the huge investments that have been made in recent years to increase storage capacity and build high-tech silos to reduce wheat waste. In this context, the project will allow the government to move forward. It is advancing its plan to increase its wheat storage capacity to maintain its ability to withstand future shocks.
Source: Cairo 24