Egypt has signed a $500-million agreement with the World Bank to fund the Upper Egypt Local Development Programme, including the improvement of key infrastructure at Qena and Sohag governorates, said a report.

The agreement was signed by Egyptian Minister of International Cooperation Sahar Nasr and World Bank vice president Hafez Ghanem on the sidelines of the World Bank and IMF annual meetings in Washington, DC.

The Upper Egypt Local Development Programme will focus on Qena and Sohag, two of the poorest governorates in the country, and is aimed at enhancing competitiveness of economic sectors with unrealised potentials, reported Amwal Alghad.

The World Bank funding will help the government support industrial zone management and on delivering services to lagging regions, providing youth and women with job opportunities, and improving infrastructure, stated the report.

This programme comes within the framework of the World Bank’s Country Partnership Framework (CPF) with Egypt for 2015–2019, which provides about $8 billion for supporting the country’s economy, it added.