EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell and the Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry in centre.
Before a plenary session of the ninth meeting of the EU-Egypt Association Council with the participation of several European foreign ministers, Borrell stated that the new EU-Egypt partnership priorities document will guide cooperation between the two sides until 2027.
The partnership document, which the two sides endorsed on Sunday, will focus on sustainable economy as well as green and digital transformation, Borrell pointed out.
Borrell added that that EU would continue working with Egypt to advance human rights commitments under the rule of the law.
“We will find a way to work together,” he said.
For his part, FM Shoukry said he is looking forward to continuing his meetings with the EU foreign ministers on Monday.
Shoukry stressed that Egypt has to deal with the food security issue, inflation, and the rise in energy costs.
“Egypt has a great burden to shoulder, and we can deal with it with the help of friends,” Shoukry said.
In his short statement, the top Egyptian diplomat said the agreement signed in Cairo on Wednesday between the EU, Egypt, and Israel to export gas from Israel to Europe through Egypt, makes the country a gas hub.
Furthermore, Shoukry, the president-designate of the UN Conference of Parties on Climate Change (COP27), said that Egypt will launch a variety of initiatives to push forward the climate change agenda globally and regionally, affirming that the country can become a global green energy producer.
On Wednesday, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen announced during a visit to Cairo that the EU allocated €100 million in immediate relief to encourage investments in Egypt’s agricultural sector and secure the country’s food needs during the global grain crisis that resulted from the Russian-Ukrainian War.
When asked by a journalist about the developments of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) dispute, given Ethiopia’s plans to carry out the third filling of the dam this summer, Borrell said that the GERD issue would be discussed in his talks with Shoukry.
For several years, Egypt and Sudan, the two downstream countries, have been demanding that Ethiopia sign a legally binding agreement on the filling and operation of the GERD, which has been rejected by Addis Ababa at every turn.
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