Egypt has expressed its keenness on sharing its development experience with Cote d’Ivoire as part of the Egyptian commitment to African progress, especially given Egypt’s achievements in the last eight years in construction and infrastructure.
Based on the principle that Egypt will continue to endeavour side by side with African countries to achieve sustainable development, as President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi affirmed in May, and that it is ready to offer its expertise to any African state, as recently stated by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, Cote d’Ivoire is the new landing place to implement such Egyptian pledge.
Three Egyptian delegations that aim to explore investment opportunities in construction, infrastructure and food security are working in Cote D’Ivoire, according to Toure Gaoussou, the Cote d’Ivoire’s Minister Governor of Denguélé District, and Hassan Abdel-Aziz, and the Chairman of the African Federation for Construction Contractors’ Association (AFCCA).
“A delegation includes representatives from Egypt’s most renowned construction companies is scheduled to head to the Ivoirian capital of Abidjan this week to discuss plans of building 20,000 middle and low-income housing units to tackle deficit problem in the capital,” Abdel-Aziz told Ahram Online on Monday on the sidelines of 7th edition of Builders of Egypt Forum in Cairo.
Abdel-Aziz said the delegation, whose visit is in coordination between the Egyptian embassy in Cote d’Ivoire and the AFCCA, will also discuss a plan to construct 15 towers.
For his part, Gaoussou expressed to Ahram Online his admiration of the mega housing projects in Egypt, adding that his country is in desperate need of building 500,000 housing units annually to absorb population growth.
Abdel-Aziz noted that Hassan Allam Holding and Al-Ahly Sabour for Real Estate Development are the most nominated companies to take over the housing project.
Another AFCCA delegation will head next week to Cote d’Ivoire to discuss building an 86-kilometer road in the northwestern district of Denguélé, according to Gaousou, who attended the forum.
According to the World Bank Economic Outlook in 2019, the northern and northwestern regions of Cote d’Ivoire have higher poverty rates (over 60 percent) than coastal areas and the southwestern region (under 40 percent).
Gaoussou said that next week’s delegation would be the third Egyptian delegation, as an Egyptian agriculture-focused delegation has already been to Cote d’Ivoire “to transfer Egypt’s experience in modern agriculture and the implantation of rice.”
Such cooperation will save a fortune for the country, which imports rice for 800 million CFA franc ($1.2 million) annually, the minister noted.
During the opening of the Builders of Egypt Forum on Monday, Madbouly said that all Egyptian construction companies and engineering consultancy offices are ready to carry out any project in Arab and African countries with high international standards and within scheduled times.
The annual Builders of Egypt Forum is the country’s largest of its kind in the construction sector, bringing together Egyptian, Arab, and African ministers in the sectors of housing, investment, and services. A number of foreign ambassadors and heads of relevant federations and business organisations were also among the attendees.
The 2022 edition of the forum was organised by the Egyptian Excellent Communications company, a subsidiary of United Media Services, and the Egyptian African Arab Co. for Development (EGAAD) in cooperation with the AFCCA.
