Since its establishment, AICS Cairo has played a key role in managing the Italian-Egyptian Debt Swap Program, which over the past 25 years has established itself as one of the main pillars of the Italian-Egyptian partnership. Since 2001, through three successive agreements, the Program has enabled the conversion of approximately 350 million dollars of debt into resources for the implementation of more than 110 development initiatives in the country’s strategic sectors.
The Third Phase involved the debt installments due between April 2012 and January 2021, with a nominal value of 100 million dollars. The installments, converted into local currency and paid into a special Counterpart Fund at the Central Bank of Egypt, generated resources exceeding 926 million EGP, in addition to approximately 51 million EGP remaining from the previous Agreement.
These resources were invested in 30 initiatives in the sectors of food security (45%), agribusiness (15%), technical education (17.5%), environmental and cultural heritage (10.5%), and civil society (10%), as well as covering the operational and technical assistance costs of the Program (2%).
Key initiatives include the construction of six grain storage facilities and the simultaneous development of a pilot information system for the governance of cereal reserves at the national level; the creation of two integrated aquaculture districts in Alexandria and Port Said; support for technical education reform through the establishment of the Applied Technology Schools (ATS) Management Unit within the Ministry of Education and Technical Education, which guided the formalization of over 80 schools based on public-private partnerships; as well as a wide range of initiatives by Italian and Egyptian civil society for women’s economic empowerment, youth entrepreneurship, and child protection.
While the disbursement of resources to the projects and the final debt cancellation were completed in December 2024, in accordance with the terms and procedures set out in the Agreement, seven initiatives currently remain ongoing for a total value of over 14 million USD.
These include the expansion of three initiatives already launched with previous Italian funding: the Inclusive Green Growth Egypt (IGGE) initiative, implemented by UNIDO, which supports the startup and expansion of SMEs in the circular economy; the initiative to strengthen the Wadi El Gemal National Park, implemented by UNDP in continuity with the Environmental Cooperation Program (EIECP); and the PLAY 2 initiative, implemented by IOM, which supports the creation of an Applied Technology School for the tourism and hospitality sector in Fayyum.
Activities in the agribusiness sector also remain ongoing, with the construction of an aquaculture facility for red tilapia farming in North Sinai, and interventions supporting the quality of agricultural production through the development of vegetable seeds and laboratories for the analysis of pesticide and heavy metals residues, as a parallel financing to the EU-ZIRA3A delegated cooperation program managed by the Office.
In the cultural heritage sector, a further intervention supports the diversification of Egypt’s tourism by improving accessibility to the archaeological sites of Abu Sir and Abu Ghorab, part of the Memphis necropolis.
Finally, through the residual funds from the previous Agreement, the Program supports the strengthening of the private sector through the HAFIZ Platform.
Meanwhile, in light of the interest shown by the Egyptian Government in launching a new phase, Italy confirmed Egypt among the beneficiary countries of the new “Debt Relief for Africa” initiative, announced at the Rome Summit on Global Gateway and Piano Mattei on June 20, 2025. Within this initiative, the Egyptian component, currently under negotiation, will have a budget of 7.31 million euros, corresponding to 50% of the installments due in the 2026-2035 period.