EU-Egypt Association Council to be held July 25th in Brussels

CAIRO - 17 July 2017: A joint report released on Monday by the European Commission and the European External Action Service looks at the partnership between the EU and Egypt for the period 2015-2017.

It assesses the achievements and policy developments in Egypt over the past two years and notes the EU's active support to the country in a wide range of critical areas including socio-economic development, education, health, energy, transport, environment, climate action, information society, research and innovation, the European Commission website reported on Monday.

The report comes ahead of the 7th EU-Egypt Association Council, scheduled to take place on 25th July 2017 in Brussels, where EU-Egypt Partnership Priorities will be adopted further to their agreement in December 2016.

The new Partnership Priorities will set the basis for strengthening EU-Egypt cooperation for the coming three years, in areas of common interest and concern, notably economic reform, governance, human rights, rule of law and efforts towards a more open society but also migration and security/counter-terrorism, as well as closer dialogue and cooperation on regional issues.

At the end of the reporting period, total ongoing EU financial assistance commitments to Egypt amounted to over EUR 1.3 billion in grants, with around 45% targeting economic and social development including employment creation; 45% devoted to renewable energy, water and sanitation/waste management and environment, and, 10% dedicated to improving governance, human rights, justice and public administration.

This work is carried out in parallel with efforts to help the most vulnerable and to support civil society, paying particular attention to youth and women.

In 2015 and 2016, EUR 250 million of new bilateral EU funding was committed to Egypt from the bilateral envelope of the European Neighborhood Instrument (ENI) and the financial envelope of the Neighborhood Investment Facility (NIF). The combined volume of EU, Member States and European Financial institutions financial assistance to Egypt in its different forms (grants, loans and debt swaps) positions Europe as the first and most significant donor in Egypt with a volume of ongoing European financial assistance to Egypt of over EUR 11 billion.