Dr.Nasr: “The Agreements aim to improve sanitation services, rehabilitation of Alexandria's Raml Tram and support of refugees in Egypt, as well as an MoU on the EU Single Support Framework (SSF).”

 
Dr. Hisham Arafat: "Rehabilitation of Alexandria's Raml Tram will enhance transportation services in Alexandria."
Johannes Han: "The EU is Egypt's No. 1 partner and the largest investor."
 
The Minister of Investment and International Cooperation Dr. Sahar Nasr, and the Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Johannes Hahn, signed two agreements during his current visit to Egypt. The agreements support sanitation and refugees, besides a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the EU Single Support Framework (SSF) which sets the priorities and the financial allocation in key strategic areas of bilateral cooperation from 2017-2020. On the other hand, both officials in presence of Governor of Alexandria Dr. Mohamed Sultan and the Minister of Transport  Dr. Hisham Arafat signed an agreement for the rehabilitation of Alexandria Tram. The estimated total value of all the agreements is EUR 600 million, including grants.
 
For her part, Dr. Nasr stated that the MoU aims to boost economic program, sustainability of energy, environment protection and social development, in addition to facilitating access to the labour market, and achieving governance reforms. The proposed indicative allocation of EU assistance to Egypt under the European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI) for 2017-2020 is between EUR 432 and EUR 528 million. In addition, the three agreements include supporting strategic investment projects to improve sanitation services with an EU grant worth EUR 38 million that aims to enhance access to sanitation services in deprived rural areas under the National Drainage Program Project launched by the government in 2015. With an EU grant of EUR 360 million in the form of soft loans from EIB and EBRD, Fayyoum Waste Water Expansion Programme will provide access to improved sanitation services to nearly 1 million inhabitants and will increase the coverage of sanitation services in Fayoum from just over 30% to almost 90%. The project is also expected to create over 30,000 temporary and permanent jobs.
 
Dr. Nasr asserted that in support of the transport sector and with an EU grant worth EUR 8 million, and soft loans worth EUR 237.7 from EIB and AFD will be leveraged to renovate Alexandria's Raml Tram to provide required transport services to citizens. It is expected to cater for double the capacity and to reduce waiting times, thereby serve over 200,000 passengers per day. All these efforts will boost Egypt-EU cooperation and development aspects.
 
The third agreement, according to the Minister, concerns a EUR 60 million grant for implementing a program to effectively address the challenges of migration in Egypt, support Egypt's efforts to strengthen migration management, resolve the root causes of irregular migration and achieve sustainability of Egyptian communities hosting refugees and migrants. 
The Minister stressed the vital role of the European Union as a strategic partner. EU assistance to Egypt currently stands at over EUR 1.3 billion in ongoing grant commitments. Together with EU member states and European financial institution grants, loans and debt swaps, this figure amounts to a total of EUR 11 billion, making the EU the biggest donor for Egypt.
 
On his part, Dr. Arafat stressed that the technical assistance grant, which aims to rehabilitate Alexandria’s Raml Tram, includes technical assistance for the preparation of  the relevant tender documents up to the designing of the project and supervision over implementation. He also pointed out that the estimated cost of the renovation project was about EUR 363 million.
 
The Minister shed that light on the importance of the project to improve transportation services in Alexandria governorate that suffers high density, which would contribute to solving transportation problems such as traffic jams, stress of citizens, waste of time and money, noise and pollution, in addition to the negative impact on the environment.
 
EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn emphasized that the EU was Egypt's No. 1 partner and the biggest investor in the country, adding: "we must cooperate where our interests converge to promote prosperity and the proper circumstances that can attract investment to the country. This works well for both the Egyptians and Europeans. "