On Monday 30 October, European Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn signed a protocol agreement in Cairo with the Egyptian authorities, as part of the EU's financial and technical support to Egypt for 2017-2020. The agreement priorities young people and women.
Building on the EU's priorities for its partnership with Egypt to 2020 (which were adopted in July), as well as on the Egyptian economic reform programme and the Egyptian strategy for sustainable development until 2030, this framework aims to pay particular attention to young people and women in the different cooperation sectors supported by the EU.
The sectors for intervention identified by the framework for EU financial and technical assistance are economic modernisation, energy sustainability and the environment (indicative target of 40% of total budget), social development and social protection (40%), governance, enhancing stability and a modern democratic state (10%), and capacity development and civil society (10%).
The proposed indicative allocation for EU bilateral assistance to Egypt under the European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI) for 2017-2020 is between €432 and €528 million.
Through the financing agreements, the EU will support strategic cooperation programmes in Egypt such as the Fayyoum Waste Water Expansion Programme (with an EU grant of €38 million, and a further €360 million in soft loans from the EIB and the EBRD to be leveraged), the 'Rehabilitation of Alexandria's Tram Programme' (with an EU grant of €8 million, and a further €237.7 million in soft loans from the EIB and the AFD to be leveraged), and the new Egyptian programme 'Enhancing the Response to Migration Challenges in Egypt' (with an EU grant of €60 million, for a programme adopted in the framework of the ‘North of Africa Window' of the EU Emergency Trust Fund) which will cover seven projects. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)