On 22 October, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (pictured) participated in the first EU-Egypt Summit held in Brussels, together with the President of the European Council António Costa, and the President of Egypt Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.
The Summit took stock stock of bilateral relations and aimed to deepen political and economic ties, as set out in the EU-Egypt Strategic and Comprehensive Partnership signed in March 2024.
The EU and Egypt signed three agreements. These include the Memorandum of Understanding for second Macro-Financial Assistance to Egypt worth €4 billion; a Financing Agreement worth €75 million, which will support the implementation of socio-economic reforms at local level; and the Agreement formalising Egypt’s association to the Horizon programme. The agreements were signed by Commissioners Valdis Dombrovskis, Dubravka Šuica and Ekaterina Zaharieva.
In the margins of the Summit, the Commission hosted an EU-Egypt High-Level Event on investments, competitiveness and innovation. Participants discussed how Egypt and the EU can deepen economic cooperation and unlock strategic investments, foster reforms, how to strengthen joint industrial competitiveness and how to benefit from Egypt’s association to Horizon Europe. More information on the event is available online.
Audiovisual coverage for the Summit was provided on EBS.