Zoellick: Egypt To Receive $2 Billion From World Bank

Egypt”s cooperation program with the World Bank has allowed the country to benefit from $2 billion from which it has so far received $1.2 billion, World Bank President Robert Zoellick said on Thursday.
Speaking to reporters following a meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Zoellick said $800 million remained to be paid from the WB, as well as another $500 million allocated to the private sector. …” 

           
 AFX reports that “…Zoellick lauded the country”s progress in implementing economic reforms that in turn have boosted growth, the Bank said in a release. 
Zoellick met with Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, to discuss the opportunities for economic growth and social reforms and address challenges such as improving the quality of education, providing health insurance for all, and developing social safety nets. …”

            Xinhua notes that “…Zoellick said that the Bank considered Egypt one of the best countries that made progress in developing [its] national economy last year, Egyptian cabinet spokesman Magdi Radi was quoted as [saying]. …
According to the spokesman, Zoellick and Nazif probed the possibility of the Bank’s contribution to upgrade technical education to meet requirements of Egypt “s labor market, as well as technical support to implement infrastructure projects conducted by both the government and the private sector. …
Nazif said Egypt was looking forward to setting up trilateral cooperation programs to implement development projects in Arab and African countries with the World Bank finances and Egypt “s human resources. …”

AFP writes that “…Zoellick”s trip is aimed at ‘assessing the type of aid Egypt needs, whether financial or technical,’ during the two-day trip which includes talks with Investment Minister Mahmud Mohieddin. …