Egypt Daily News – Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdel Ati stated on Sunday that the European Parliament’s International Trade Committee had approved the second tranche of the European Union’s funding package for Egypt, worth four billion euros.
He added, “We expect it to be voted on by the full European Parliament in the coming weeks, and we hope this process will be smooth and easy.” He noted that Egypt had already received the first tranche of this package in December, amounting to one billion euros. The total value of the package is 7.4 billion euros, which the European Union pledged to provide over the coming years after upgrading relations between the two sides to a comprehensive strategic partnership in March 2024.
Minister Badr Abdel Ati made these remarks during a joint press conference with the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas, in Cairo.
He stated that he had agreed with Kallas during their talks on Sunday to activate the political component of the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two sides by “holding the first Egypt-EU summit this year.”
He also highlighted the burdens Egypt bears due to hosting millions of refugees from neighboring countries affected by conflicts and civil wars.
“I spoke about Egypt hosting around 10 million foreign guests or refugees and our expectation for more support and assistance from the EU to help us manage the social and economic challenges resulting from hosting this vast number of foreign guests,” he said.
He added that these increasing burdens come at a time when Egypt is facing “major economic challenges due to external factors, primarily the Ukraine crisis and its impact on food prices, as well as the escalating crisis in the Red Sea and its effects on Suez Canal revenues, which have declined by more than 65%, amounting to losses exceeding eight billion dollars.”
