20101011
africanews

The European Union is set to grant new aid funds to Egypt under cooperation programmes worth 1.1 billion dollars (€800 million euros), ENPI Info Centre said.

European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Fule will be travelling to the North African country to hold talks with several Egyptian leaders, including Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif and Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit.

A statement from the European Commission said Fule would unveil EU-Egypt co-operation programmes for the period 2009-13 amounting to 1.1 billion dollars (800 million euros).

The Commissioner will also visit an EU-funded project on ‘Working Children’ within the Children at Risk programme, implemented by the National Council for Children and Motherhood.

“Europe’s relations with Egypt go back centuries. Our close geographic proximity and our strong cultural ties make us natural partners. We can learn a great deal from each other. We both stand to gain considerably from an even closer relationship,” Commissioner Füle said.

An Association Agreement implemented in 2004 had been governing the relations between the EU and Egypt, but an Action Plan was adopted in 2007 within the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy.

Egypt has benefited nearly $3 billion of assistance from the European Union since 1995.

However, the EU package arrives at a time when Egypt’s domestic politics is in turmoil. The country’s opposition forces are envisaging putting an end to President Hosny Mubarak’s 29-year-old rule in upcoming parliamentary elections.

But the President’s rivals seem not to have a common objective. The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt largest opposition group and officially banned from participating in politics, said it would field candidates for the parliamentary votes. As opposed to former UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei, who is calling for a boycott.