Supporting the development aspirations of countries of the South, especially African and Islamic countries, has always been among Egypt’s top foreign policy priorities. Successful cooperation models among our countries over the past years have shown that we in the South can, and do, help one another to achieve our sustainable development goals through the sharing of the precious knowledge and valuable resources we possess.
The establishment of the Egyptian Agency of Partnership for Development (EAPD) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in July 2014 aimed at boosting Egypt’s international development cooperation efforts, particularly with countries of Africa. Although the EAPD is a nascent agency, its work builds on the longstanding achievements of its predecessors the Egyptian Agency for Technical Cooperation with Africa (EFTCA) and the Egyptian Fund for Technical Cooperation with the Commonwealth States (EFTCC). It is thus an extension of Egypt’s established tradition of promoting South-South Cooperation and solidarity among developing countries.
The EAPD seeks to put Egypt’s many comparative advantages into play for the benefit of the continent so as to harness its immense potential. This is why, day in-day out, the EAPD is exploring innovative ways to engage with various partners at national, regional and global levels to leverage their expertise and resources to provide custom-made technical assistance programmes, capacity-building activities, training sessions, humanitarian assistance and emergency relief to African countries, upon their request.
The partnerships we forge aim at providing local solutions to local problems, with a global perspective.
Our overarching aim is to complement the efforts of African and Islamic countries in achieving the regionally and internationally agreed development plans, including the African Union Agenda 2063 and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. In our work, we give priority to the development enablers, particularly health, education, women’s empowerment, justice and security.
The Agency’s partners are many and diverse; they include the United Nations, regional and international organizations, multilateral and bilateral development agencies, foundations and the private sector. As you get acquainted with the EAPD, I invite you to consider yourself a partner of ours. As we are constantly seeking to improve how we do things, we would appreciate your feedback on how we can either work together or do things better.
Here in Africa we say that “if you want to run fast, run alone; but if you want to run far, run together”.
Sameh Shoukry
Minister of Foreign Affairs
The Arab Republic of Egypt