Europe gives Egypt $105m to support food security

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen announced on Wednesday that Europe would immediately give Egypt €100 million ($104.1 million). She added that it would also provide €3 billion ($3.12 billion) to the region in the coming years to counter the damage to food supplies due to the Russian military operation in Ukraine, Anadolu Agency reported.

This came in a joint press conference with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi on the sidelines of her visit to Cairo.

“We extensively discussed food security after the war (…) and we will stand by Egypt and provide it with immediate relief with more than €100 million to boost its grain stocks in the short-term,” von der Leyen shared in reference to the global grain crisis caused by the Russian-Ukrainian war.

“We also discussed at the medium and long-term level the strengthening and renewal of food production locally through European Union (EU) investments, and we will devote €3 billion to agriculture, irrigation and water in the region over the coming years,” she added.

Von der Leyen explained that she also discussed with President Al-Sisi energy security and the importance of expanding its supplies after the European move to reduce dependency on Russia and to find other partners.

Earlier on Wednesday, von der Leyen attended a ceremony for the signing of a framework agreement between the EU, Egypt and Israel to export Israeli gas to Europe via Egypt.

President Al-Sisi confirmed that he had discussed with the European official the rise in energy prices, natural gas, food security and mechanisms for pumping more European investments into Egypt.

READ: Egypt’s Sisi calls for ‘patience’ amid worsening economic conditions

Updated on 16/6/2022 at 13:30 GMT+1 to correct the currency which was previously listed as dollars and not euros.