Brussels, 14/05/2001 (Agence Europe) - Egypt, which is to sign an association agreement with the EU on Monday, has decided to defer the ceremony until June, at the earliest, on the fringe of the ordinary session of the General Affairs Council. Egypt's commitment in this context is not in any doubt, Raouf Sâad, Egypt's Ambassador in Brussels, assured. He simply recalled that President Mouabrak has, over the past three months, "given instructions for the setting in place of a programme for economic reform". The partnership agreement with the EU, which comes within this logic, will be signed at the same time as implementation of this programme in order to ensure there is overall coherency in the policy for modernising and opening up the Egyptian economy, he states.