EU Commissioner: Sisi leads Egypt to play pivotal role in region

CAIRO, May 7 (MENA) - European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development Neven Mimica said Egypt is a very important country for the European Union, noting that President Abdel Fattah El Sisi is leading his country to play a pivotal role in the region.

The EU official's remarks were made during his meeting with Minister of Investment and International Cooperation Sahar Nasr.

Mimica praised the steps taken by Egypt over the past few years to introduce strong economic reforms that have contributed to improving the investment climate.

He asserted that the European Union is looking forward to intensifying cooperation with Egypt during its presidency of the African Union this year.

The two sides discussed increasing developmental cooperation in the coming phase as part of the Support Program of the EU to Egypt extending till 2020. The program's value ranges between 432 million euros and 528 million euros in the fields of energy, transport, sanitary drainage, education, health, women empowerment as well as new and renewable energy projects.

The meeting also took up the three-way cooperation between Egypt, the African Union and the EU within the framework of President Sisi's presidency of the African Union.

They also addressed efforts to support the economic and development cooperation in Africa as well as backing the initiatives of regional integration among the African countries in addition to financing new development projects through funds from international financing institutions.

Meanwhile, Nasr said Egypt is currently negotiating with the international financing institutions and development partners to support infrastructure projects in Africa, along with other important sectors including information technology, transport and renewable energy.

Nasr praised the EU backing to Egypt, noting that the total value of grants from the European Union to Egypt hit 1.3 billion euros for ongoing projects. She added that the figure is expected to reach 11 billion euros, thus the EU is considered Egypt's biggest funder.

She underlined the importance of the European Union as a strategic partner for Egypt, urging European countries to pump more investments in the Egyptian market in view of its recent legislative reforms.