EU, Egypt Agree 7.4 Bn Euro Deal Focussed On Energy, Migration

Cairo, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 17th Mar, 2024) The EU chief and five European leaders visited cash-strapped Egypt on Sunday to announce a 7.4-billion-euro financial package focussed on boosting energy trade and stemming irregular migrant flows to the 27-member bloc.

The deal will include billions in credit over coming years for highly indebted Egypt, and stepping up energy sales that could help Europe "move further away from Russian gas", said a senior European Commission official.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen -- who was joined by the leaders of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Greece and Italy -- met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ahead of the scheduled signing ceremony.

The Strategic and Comprehensive Partnership agreement includes five billion Euros in loans over four years, 1.8 billion euros in investment and hundreds of millions for bilateral projects including on migration, the official said on condition of anonymity.

Egypt, mired in a painful economic crisis, borders war-battered Libya and the centres of two ongoing conflicts -- the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip and Sudan's war between the regular armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

"Egypt is a critical country for Europe today and for the days to come," said the commission official, who pointed to Egypt's "important position in a very difficult neighbourhood, bordering Libya, Sudan and the Gaza Strip".

Egypt already hosts around nine million migrants and refugees, including four million Sudanese and 1.5 million Syrians, according to the UN's International Organization for Migration.

The EU official said the deal includes steps to cooperate on "security, counter-terrorism cooperation and protection of borders, in particular the southern one" with Sudan.

The Gaza Strip, where Israel is at war with the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas since the October 7 attack, "will not be the main focus but will be part of the discussion" in Cairo, the official added.

The delegation included three Mediterranean leaders -- Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, her Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides.

They were joined by Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo.