USAID pledges USD 65 mn in grants for infrastructure development, water sector reform: Investment Minister Sahar Nasr signed agreements with USAID on Monday for grants worth USD 65 mn that will be used to support water infrastructure development, according to a ministry statement. The funding will be used to improve water and wastewater management systems in rural governorates in Upper Egypt, including Luxor, Minya, Aswan, Qena, Asyut, and Sohag, providing as many as 1.1 mn citizens with access to clean water and sanitation systems. The agreements include a USD 13.8 mn grant to build up the capacity of the Water Holding Company and its subsidiaries, according to a US embassy press release (pdf).

Nasr and other ministers had met yesterday with a delegation of 40 US companies operating in Egypt, according to a ministry statement. The ministers of electricity, finance and agriculture sat down with top execs from Visa, Mastercard, JP Morgan, Coca Cola, General Electric, IBM, Google and others to sell them on the reform agenda and urge them to invest further.