Egypt and the European Union (EU) renewed on Thursday their framework of joint cooperation for six more years.

The 2021-2027 partnership framework will strengthen Egypt’s long relationship with the EU that began in 1977.

Minister of International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat met on Thursday with Ambassador of the EU in Cairo Christian Berger to renew the framework of cooperation in various fields and strengthen economic diplomacy as instruments of driving growth.

Berger took the EU chair in early September in the presence of Ambassador Raouf Saad, head of the National Office for the Implementation of the Egyptian-European Partnership Agreement, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

During the meeting, Al-Mashat noted that the strategic relations between Egypt and the EU reflected positively on Egypt’s development, adding that Egypt is currently part of the EU’s support framework for the period 2017-2020, which has allocated up to €528 million to support several sectors, including sustainable energy, the environment, social protection, stability promotion, governance, capacity building and civil society.

Turning development into real success human stories, the minister referred to Egypt's stories especially with regards to women's empowerment.

The Ministry of International Cooperation and the National Council for Women, in cooperation with the World Economic Forum, launched the first of its kind in the Middle East and Africa Gender Gap Accelerator to close the gender gap through public-private collaboration, as well as her recent visit to Sinai to inspect a group of community developmental projects to provide inspiring living conditions for Bedouins.

Al-Mashat reiterated the ministry’s vision to apply the three principles of economic diplomacy, including regularly organising multi-stakeholder platforms, adopting a consistent Global Partnerships Narrative, People & Projects & Purpose (P&P&P), and mapping official development assistance financing to SDGs.

Berger asserted the EU wants to support Egypt’s development efforts.

EU grants to Egypt have amounted to €1.35 billion since 1977.