ITFC, ILO partner to support Egypt’s food and furniture industries
International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), a member of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group, has partnered with International Labour Organization (ILO) for the implementation of the second phase of “Strengthening Skills for Trade and Economic Diversification” (STED) in Eygpt, under the Aid for Trade Initiative for Arab States (AfTIAS) program.
The partnership agreement was signed by Nasser Al-Thekair, general manager of trade & business development, on behalf of Hani Salem Sonbol, chief executive of ITFC, and Christophe Perrin, deputy director general for operations and partnership, ILO.
The signing took place during the closing session of the “Youth and Employment in North Africa” conference on the sidelines of the WTO Public Forum 2017 in Geneva.
The two organizations partnered together in 2015 for the implementation of the first phase in Tunisia and Egypt. The new agreement builds on the success of the first phase and meets Egypt’s request to support capacity building of the newly established Food Safety Authority, in particular its training function, and to upgrade training curricula for the furniture sector.
Al-Thekair said: “I am pleased with our successful partnership with the ILO to work on such important programs like STED.”
“ITFC believes that providing trade support that contributes to expanding employment opportunities, especially for young people, is at the core of our developmental mandate. We will work together with ILO to help close skill gaps and increase opportunities for trade and economic diversification in Egypt,” he added.
It is worth mentioning that in Egypt, two export sectors have benefited from the STED analysis in 2014, namely the wood and furniture sector and the food processing industry. The newly established Food Safety Authority will require considerable capacity building of their staff to fulfil its mission. In addition, the furniture sector has been identified as a priority sector in the newly launched industrial development strategy of the ministry. STED will provide the support to achieve growth and decent employment creation, which in turn will increase exports and contribute to the socioeconomic development.