The four-year initiative, called Center for Renewable Energy in Aquaculture (CeREA), is funded by the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Cairo.

The initiative reflects Norway's commitment to enhancing nutrition, promoting job and value creation and empowering local fish value chain actors with climate-smart technologies, particularly small- and medium-scale fish farmers in Africa.

Commenting on the impact of the programme, the ambassador of Norway to Egypt, Hilde Klemetsdal, said: “We are delighted to sign the agreement today with WorldFish. The project will enable 5,000 fish producers, processors and other fish value chain actors to increase their productivity and incomes, leading to a reduction in food waste and loss and promoting the transformation to more energy-efficient and climate-smart food value chains. The project is a prime example of an initiative that aligns with Norway's development cooperation priorities. I am very pleased to see so many important and timely elements, including food security, climate adaptation and gender equality addressed in one program.”

WorldFish has been supporting the Egyptian aquaculture and fisheries sector since the launch of its research and training centre at Abbassa in Sharkia in 1998. A key focus of the centre has been improving fish genetics and research capacity to transform Egypt into a role model for sub-Saharan African aquaculture development.