CAIRO – 7 June 2020: Egypt's Minister of International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat announced Sunday that Egypt won two of the 2020 Sustainability Awards granted by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
Al-Mashat clarified that these awards came for its outstanding efforts in the” Sustainable Energy” and “Gender and Inclusion” categories among 11 other countries worldwide.
“Egypt has been awarded with a Silver and a Bronze by EBRD’s Environment and Sustainability Department to public-private partnerships making significant contributions in the following five fields: Sustainable Energy, Climate Resilience, Environmental & Social Best Practice, Environmental & Social Innovation, Gender and Inclusion,” Al-Mashat stated.
According to the statement, the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) won the Silver Award in the “Sustainable Energy” category for its commitment to innovation, as well as pioneering steps to promote equal opportunities and ‘green skills’ for women in the country’s renewable energy sector. Mreover, the Egyptian National Railways (ENR) won the Bronze Award in the “Gender and Inclusion” category for its its contribution to safe transport, which is essential for women’s economic inclusion enabling them to access education as well as essential economic opportunities.
The Minister praised EBRD for celebrating project achievements through the annual Sustainable Awards, pointing out that this encourages its members to promote environmental and social sustainability, expand renewable energy projects, and endorse women economic empowerment supporting the implementation of the the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
In 2019, EBRD with The Ministry of International Cooperation supported EECT with a sovereign loan of €183 million to develop a more resilient and robust electricity grid across Egypt, through the integrated of 1.3 GW of new renewable energy, and reducing electricity losses, thus saving 77,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.
The Ministry of International Cooperation is committed to closing the gender gap by ensuring each project under its portfolio, has a component allocated to women contributing to the acceleration of achieving SDG No. 5. The Minister emphasized the efforts done by the EBRD in ENR’s awareness campaign to combat sexual harassment in the railway network.
“The results of the Environmental and Sustainability awards are independently judged. The deserved award of our Egyptian clients is hence another testament of the successful government reforms which are focused the on the key issues that affect Egyptian society today,” Associate Director, Deputy Head of Egypt at EBRD Khalid Hamza said, adding that “EBRD is pleased to have contributed to this through its investments in EETC and ENR."
EBRD Managing Director, Environment and Sustainability also commended the efforts of the awarded members Alistair Clark,, stated these Awards recognize the great achievements of our clients in going beyond business as usual to address key environmental and social issues within their projects.
A special ceremony for the Sustainability Awards was scheduled to take place at the EBRD Annual Meeting and Business Forum in May 2020, which was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Clark added: “We look forward to celebrating in person with all our award winners when circumstances allow and raising a toast to their success”.
The overall cooperation portfolio between Egypt and EBRD amounts to around €4.18 billion.
Sun, Jun. 7, 2020
