Portugal to resettle 400 refugees residing in Egypt

CAIRO - 24 June 2018: Portugal will resettle 400 refugees residing in Egypt in 2018/2019 in light of an agreement reached between Egypt and the European Union (EU) on migration, said Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ahmed Abu Zeid in a statement on Saturday.

“This fruitful cooperation with Portugal comes in the framework of a comprehensive dialogue between Egypt and the European Union on migration, and [in light of] the efforts Egypt exerts with EU to resettle a number of refugees residing in Egypt,” the statement read.

The cooperation program between Egypt and the EU has been reached after holding a meeting in December 2017 in Cairo. The meeting recommended that some European countries should resettle a number of refugees from the hosting neighboring countries, the statement added.

In a bid to renew Egypt’s moral and legal commitment towards refugees in the territory, Egypt has called on the international community to share the collective responsibility of hosting refugees, said Abu Zeid in a statement on World Refugee Day.

On #WorldRefugeeDay Egypt stresses need to share the collective repsonbilities of hosting refugees. We renew our legal & moral commitment towards refugees on our own territory and keenness to integrate them into society, despite high burdens &economic difficulties @UNHCREgypt

— Egypt MFA Spokesman (@MfaEgypt) June 20, 2018

The registered number of refugees in Egypt reached 179,201 persons, mainly from Syria, according to the UNHCR data in February 2016.

In 2016, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi said that Egypt hosts around 5 million refugees (registered and unregistered).

On Friday, The Arab Council Supporting Fair Trial and Human Rights (ACSFT) praised the efforts exerted by the Egyptian government in its fruitful cooperation with the UNHCR and its national partners in Egypt, supporting refugees of multiple nationalities in Egypt.