EU’s emergency employment project with Egypt concludes

CAIRO – 29 November 2017: The European Union (EU) held Wednesday the concluding conference of the Emergency Employment Investment project in Egypt.

The event was attended by Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade Tarek Kabil, EU Ambassador to Egypt Ivan Surkos and Head of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (MSMEDA) Nevine Gamea.

Under the program that has been running for four years, MSMEDA reduced dependency on heavy equipment and machines used in projects and increased involvement of low-skilled labor who cannot easily find job opportunities in the market.

With €70 million in grant, the program targeted creating short-term employment opportunities for the low-skilled and semi-skilled workers.

At the same time, the EU program aimed at improving access to basic infrastructure and community services among the target population and improving the employability of young men and women.

EU assistance to Egypt currently stands at more than €1.3 billion in ongoing grant commitments. Together with EU member states and European financial institutions' grants, loans and debt swaps, this figure reaches a total of €11 billion, making the EU the biggest donor to Egypt.

The new EU-Egypt Single Support Framework 2017-2020 sets out the EU's priorities for bilateral assistance to Egypt under the European Neighborhood Instrument. It foresees between €432 and €528 million for Egypt.