Islamic Development Bank launches USD 500 mn fund for Egyptian startups: The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) has set up a USD 500 mn fund to support youth-led startups through the Investment Ministry’s Egyptian Entrepreneurship Investment Company (Egypt Ventures) and ministry-supported startup accelerator Falak, according to an Investment Ministry statement. Investment Minister Sahar Nasr and IsDB President Bandar Al Hajjar also agreed during a meeting yesterday to organize a startup competition next month during a meeting on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank annual meetings in Washington. The bank has set aside EGP 3 bn until 2021 as part of a strategy to partner with Egypt’s private sector on projects in the transport, education, and electricity sectors.

Nasr meets with other heads of int’l development institutions: Nasr separately held talks with International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) CEO Adam Boehler, UN Development Programme (UNDP) head Achim Steiner, and EBRD President Suma Chakrabarti yesterday. Boehler’s DFC, a US federal agency set up last year to consolidate the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and USAID’s Development Credit Authority, is in ongoing talks with the government to cooperate on Egypt’s electricity interconnection projects in Africa. The agency is also planning to finance transport, desalination and renewable energy projects, as well as fund SMEs.

Also from Washington: Egypt has joined the G20’s Global Infrastructure Hub, Nasr said yesterday. The country’s admission into the program, which was established in 2014 as an initiative by G20 member countries, “will pave the way for public and private organizations to increase their investment in Egypt and Africa's infrastructure sectors,” Nasr said. The program, has funded USD 69 bn-worth of water, energy, transport, and communications projects across 40 countries.