Egypt stresses rejection of refugee camps on its soil

CAIRO - 29 August 2017: Egypt on Monday stressed it has a firm policy rejecting the establishment of of refugee camps or settlement of foreign nationals on its lands as the Arab country and Germany signed in Berlin a cooperation deal on immigration.

"The deal is fully consistent with the Egyptian vision in dealing with the illegal immigration and reflects consensus between Cairo and Berlin in this regard," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said.

"It also reflects Egypt’s vision and policy aiming at combating illegal immigration through a comprehensive approach that depends not only on the security aspect but also on the development issues and support of youths," he said.

Under the deal, Germany will give Egypt 28 million euros in grant for education and technical training, and will provide guarantees for the German private sector to work in the Egyptian market and in the small and medium-sized businesses in order to provide job opportunities for youths.

It also stipulates increasing the number of German scholarships offered for Egyptian students and renewing talks between the two countries to approve a new tranche of support under a debt swap program to be spent to improve education and vocational training in Egypt.

The spokesman pointed out that the deal asserted that the voluntary repatriation of the Egyptians living in Germany illegally is the first choice.

He categorically denied that the deal stipulated the establishment of camps to shelter refugees in Egypt.