Cairo, 11 December 2018 (ECA) – A delegation from the Public-Private Partnership Unit, recently established at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning of Sudan, initiated yesterday a work visit to its Egyptian equivalent, the PPP Central Unit of the Ministry of Finance in Cairo, to be followed by a study tour.
This visit is being organised with the support of the ECA Office for North Africa, with the aim of providing Sudanese officials with an opportunity to study the Egyptian PPP framework and the mechanisms and procedures established to ensure its success. During four days, the delegation will draw on Egypt’s fifteen years of experience in this field, study PPP characteristics, their institutional and legal framework, how Egypt attracts local and foreign investments and how it uses alternative sources of funding for major projects. The delegation will also have an opportunity to examine challenges faced by their Egyptian counterparts in areas such as risk management or the sharing of responsibilities between the public and private sectors.
« As sanctions are being lifted; and given the need for an accelerated economic recovery, Sudan needs all stakeholders to take part in the building of basic infrastructures and the setup of a business-friendly framework. Public private partnerships are essential to support this economic revival and generate growth », said Lilia Hachem Naas, director of the ECA Office for North Africa, who welcomed the participation of the Arab Republic of Egypt and the Republic of Sudan in this South-South cooperation initiative.
The Sudanese delegation, which includes officials from the Public Private Partnership unit and partners from both the private sector and various economic sectors, is taking part in this initiative as part of Sudan’s Five-Year Program for Economic Reform 2015–2019. The PPP Unit aims to facilitate the building of mechanisms adapted to national needs by studying, within the framework of South-South cooperation, the experience of other countries in various areas such as institutional frameworks, existing opportunities and obstacles, risk management or the use of local resources and raw materials.
This work visit is taking place as part of the ECA technical assistance to Sudan, as agreed by ECA’s former Deputy Executive Secretary Abdalla Hamdok and Sudanese Minister of State Magdi Hassan Yassin, on 15 May 2018 on the margins of ECA’s 51st Conference of African ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development.
The May 2018 ECA-Sudan meeting had been an opportunity for representatives to examine several potential areas for cooperation such as capital market development, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) implementation process, the inclusion of Agenda 2030 and 2063 in national strategies, debt management and capacity building. The meeting had agreed to entrust the ECA Office for North Africa with the coordination of technical assistance activities and the strengthening of ECA capacities in support to the Republic of Sudan.
Communication Team
Economic Commission for Africa
Office for North Africa
Tel: +212 (0) 537 548 749
Email: filali-ansary@un.org; cea.an.coms@gmail.com