Egypt’s Prime Minister Emphasizes Role as Regional Energy and Logistics Hub

Prime Minister and Rania Al-Mashat.

On Monday evening, Dr. Mostafa Madbouly, Egypt’s Prime Minister, met with Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA). This meeting marked Al-Mashat’s first official visit to Egypt since taking on her new role, where they discussed avenues for cooperation between the Egyptian government and ESCWA, aiming to enhance partnerships in key developmental and regional areas.

At the beginning of the meeting, Prime Minister Madbouly welcomed Dr. Al-Mashat and extended his warm congratulations on her new appointment, wishing her success in her responsibilities to strengthen ESCWA’s role in supporting developmental efforts and economic integration in the Arab region.

The Prime Minister emphasized that Egypt believes that the future of development in the region cannot be achieved solely through individual national efforts but requires enhancing regional interconnection and integration in energy, transport, trade, and investment sectors to serve the mutual interests of countries and peoples.

He highlighted that Egypt is working to establish itself as a regional hub for energy and logistics, leveraging its geographical position along with institutional capacities and infrastructure developed over recent years. This includes projects related to electricity interconnection, port development, and enhancing cross-border transport networks and trade.

Madbouly noted that Egypt’s experience has shown that investing in cross-border infrastructure not only yields national benefits but also generates economic and developmental advantages that extend throughout the entire region, fostering shared stability and prosperity.

In response, Dr. Al-Mashat presented ESCWA’s vision aimed at maximizing cooperation and integration among its 21 member states based on mutual benefits and achieving regional added value. She emphasized that cooperation among countries transcends direct impacts to create broader benefits for the entire region, encapsulated in the equation “1+1=3,” which reflects the multiplicative effects of economic and developmental collaboration among nations.

She underscored the importance of showcasing existing cooperation models and building upon them, particularly in areas such as electricity interconnection, gas pipelines, maritime transport, remittances, investments, and cross-border regional companies.

The meeting also addressed several pioneering Egyptian initiatives that reinforce Egypt’s status as a regional center for energy, logistics, and economic integration. Notable projects include the Egyptian-Saudi electricity interconnection project, connections with neighboring countries, Egypt’s pivotal role in natural gas trade through its advanced infrastructure, as well as its contributions to supporting the operation of the Arab Gas Pipeline.

Additionally, they discussed the significance of interconnection projects and logistical corridors linking Egypt with its Arab and African surroundings. Development of ports and transport networks was highlighted as essential for enhancing intra-regional trade while improving supply chain efficiency across the region to solidify economic interconnectedness among countries.

Concluding the meeting, Prime Minister Madbouly praised ESCWA’s role in supporting efforts towards Arab economic integration. He expressed Egypt’s eagerness to strengthen collaboration with ESCWA in public policy areas, regional integration initiatives, sustainable development efforts aimed at achieving shared prosperity for peoples across the region.