Tag: agreement

Egypt, India sign maritime transportation, other bilateral agreements

President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi signed a maritime transportation agreement with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Friday, after discussing Egypt and India’s bilateral relations.

The duo also discussed the latest developments in the Middle East, and their keenness on more cooperation in different fields, as well as counter-terrorism measures.

Following the meeting, Al-Sisi held a joint press conference with the Indian prime minister. The president expressed his happiness about visiting India after he was invited by his Indian counterpart.

Al-Sisi said that the visit has proven the depth of relations and ties of cooperation between Egypt and India, and their convergence of views regarding most international and regional issues.
The president praised the strong relations between both countries, asserting that each party is keen to continue cooperation in order to find solutions for various international issues, despite the changing international circumstances.

He said that both countries were keen on strengthening their relations and cooperating given the increase of threats and common challenges, ranging from terrorism and extremism, to climate change and the need of sustainable energy sources for future generations.

‘’My discussion with the Indian prime minister revealed a consensus of views and clear intentions on enhancing our joint cooperation in a number of fields,’’ Al-Sisi said.

The two sides agreed to cooperate on a number of issues, such as working on an integrated plan to upgrade the economic and trade cooperation. Both countries want to intensify mutual investments, and promote the exchange of expertise in various areas of development.

Egypt and India also agreed on a military and security cooperation, especially in terms of counter-terrorism measures. Additionally, the countries decided to strengthen cultural and tourism ties, as well as scientific and technological cooperation, particularly in the areas of renewable energy, information and communications, and space technology.

The president concluded his speech by inviting Modi to visit Egypt in order to consolidate the ties of friendship and cooperation, thanking “the nation of India and its great leadership”.

On Thursday, Al-Sisi met with Indian external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj to discuss ways of developing bilateral relations in various fields, especially through trade cooperation and increasing the number of Indian tourists to Egypt.
The meeting also discussed the prospects of enhancing cooperation and coordination between the two countries to counter terrorism.

September 2, 2016
Parliament ratifies Egypt-Saudi nuclear energy agreement despite criticism

The House of Representatives Legislative Committee ratified Sunday an array of agreements in different fields, state-run news agency MENA reported.

Among the agreements was one between Egypt and Saudi Arabia on the beneficial uses of nuclear energy, signed by both countries in early April.

The agreement, which was signed during King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud’s visit to Cairo, aims to increase cooperation between both countries in nuclear energy use, as well as the research, treatment, maintenance, and operation of nuclear reactors, ensuring environmental safety. This agreement is expected to extend for 10 years.

Nuclear energy is part of Egypt’s future mix of energy sources, according to Minister of Environment Khaled Fahmy. He said the new mix includes 5% nuclear energy, 15% coal, and 33% renewable energy in addition to alternative fuels.

This decision to expand nuclear energy use in Egypt has alarmed several environmentalists.

In a joint study published by the Egyptian Centre for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR) and the Heinrich Böll Foundation in late March, it was found that nuclear energy is not a viable part of a future energy mix for Egypt.

“It is the most expensive pathway available, costing $23.7bn, and potentially posing extreme risks to human lives and the environment in Egypt,” the study stated. Those costs are attributed to the lack of uranium in Egypt and connecting power plants to the national grid.

According to the study, nuclear power plants are highly regulated, state-driven entities that must be monitored and maintained meticulously. Furthermore, nuclear power plants take an average of seven years to be constructed, leaving the possibility that nuclear power would not contribute to the new mix of energy sources until 2022 or possibly later. It would thus be used as merely a mid-term solution for the energy mix.

July 25, 2016
Court adjourns session on lawsuit to abolish demarcation deal to 7 June

The administrative court at the State Council adjourned on Tuesday the session on the lawsuit to abolish the Egyptian–Saudi maritime demarcation agreement which transferred sovereignty of Tiran and Sanfir islands to Saudi Arabia to 7 June.

The lawsuit was filed by prominent rights lawyers Khalid Ali and Tarek Al-Awady, as well as the now jailed Malek Adly, who were joined in the court room by other lawyers who demanded to be added as plaintiffs in the case along with dozens of citizens who attended the session as contestants.

Lawyer Ali Ayoub kicked off the plaintiffs arguments, pointing out that the cabinet’s decree which announced the agreement contradicts Article 151 of the Constitution, which according to him prohibits the signing of agreements that includes giving away Egyptian land.

Ayoub added that it is not clear if the aforementioned islands are the only lands to be given away.

The Constitution article reads: “the president of the republic shall represent the state in foreign relations and shall conclude treaties and ratify them after approval from parliament.”

However, it also stipulates that: “treaties of peace, alliance, and all treaties related to the rights of sovereignty must be put to a public referendum and cannot be ratified until after the results of the referendum are announced. In all cases, no treaty shall be approved that contradicts the provisions of the constitution or that results in a waiver of any part of the territory of the state.”

Al-Awady echoed the point Ayoub was making by insisting that the Constitution’s first article confirms that the state is inalienable. He argued that sovereignty over the islands has been disputed between Egypt and Saudi Arabia while the government was trying to promote the islands belonging to the latter.

He also demanded the court to oblige the government to present the text of the demarcation agreement and the maps attached to it.

Khaled Ali said that he had written to the president and ministers of defence, foreign affairs, and interior to stall any acts of ceding the islands before resolving the dispute over them.

He asserted that the dispute in the lawsuit is primarily over whether signing the agreement is an act of sovereignty that is the right of the government, which the plaintiffs contest. He also addressed the same demand to the court.

“Acts of sovereignty are not defined, and the court is entitled to define them,” he said.

Malek Adly, one of the three lawyers who originally filed the lawsuit, did not attend the session as he was arrested on 5 May on charges of attempting to overthrow the regime, spreading false rumours, and inciting demonstrations among other charges.

The lawyers attending on behalf of the plaintiffs asserted to the court that Adly was arrested for advocating the case of Egypt’s sovereignty over the islands along with dozens of young people.

“I ask the court to oblige the minister of interior to enable Malek Adly to attend the next session of the trial and present his arguments,” Ali said.

The lawyer presented to the court, among the files of the case, an atlas issued by the Ministry of Defence in 2007 that confirms the islands are under Egyptian sovereignty.

Ali said the government is trying to impose a state of silence over society: “the Egyptian people will not stay silent, the judiciary is the only authority entitled to counter the state’s assault on the powers of the people.”

Representatives of the State Lawsuit Authority argued the court is not entitled to rule over the lawsuit and not accepting the lawsuit as the demarcation agreement is yet to be approved by parliament, hence no administrative decree is finalised yet.

The court adjourned the trial as it ordered the state to present documents and maps of the agreement and also adding new contestants to the lawsuit upon request from the lawyers.

The session was attended by public figures such as former presidential candidates Hamdeen Sabahy and Abdel Moneim Abol Fotouh as well as politicians such as Al-Dostour party’s Khaled Dawuod, the Popular Current’s Ma’asoum Marzouk and the Socialist Popular Alliance party’s Medhat Al-Zahed who came to show support for the lawsuit against the government.

Marzouk told Daily News Egypt that the subject matter of the lawsuit is related to history and to the Egyptians. He believes the State Council is “the fortress for freedoms and rights of the Egyptian people”.

“[The islands] were never Saudi. There is no evidence that they were,” he asserted.

May 17, 2016
Egyptian-Saudi maritime demarcation document suggests upcoming tri-partite deal with Jordan

An upcoming tripartite deal with Jordan is one of the facts to emerge from Friday’s disclosure of the Egyptian-Saudi maritime demarcation agreement.

On Friday, MP Mostafa Bakri disclosed the details of the Egyptian-Saudi document that facilitated the sovereign transfer of the Red Sea islands Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia.

The pro-state media figure announced the details of the four-page agreement on his television programme. The first article of the document states that the new maritime border between Egypt and Saudi Arabia will begin Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan’s shared border.

The agreement which was signed in April during the visit of Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz to Egypt has prompted strong reactions from the public. Members of the press have dug out historical documents to prove that the islands are Egyptian while the state publicised documents that say the islands are Saudi.

Anger over the agreement prompted nationwide protests that took place on 15 and 25 April. However, they were met with a security crackdown.

The agreement’s text states that it goes into effect according to legal and constitutional procedures in both countries. The Saudi Shura Council and cabinet approved the agreement on 25 April and 2 May, respectively.

Following the approvals, the agreement should be sent to the UN secretary-general to be registered under the charter of the United Nations.

The Egyptian parliament is yet to discuss the agreement in order to vote on it. The agreement was sent to parliament at the beginning of the month, according to sources. However, parliamentary speaker Ali Abdul Aal has yet to bring it to a discussion session.

Last week, parliament released a worksheet that included information on the agreement, similar demarcation cases and different opinions and conflicting documents over the agreement.

The document said negotiations over the demarcation agreement between Egypt and Saudi Arabia have been ongoing for six years. It also acknowledges “the political administration took the decision without readying public opinion,” which was one of the reasons that raised controversy over the agreement in addition to the strategic location of the two Red Sea islands.

May 14, 2016
Minister of International Cooperation signs five agreements and MoUs worth $3.1bn in South Korea

Minister of International Cooperation Sahar Nasr signed five agreements and memoranda of understanding (MoU) worth approximately $3.1bn with South Korea on 3 March during President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi’s visit to Asia.

Nasr announced the framework agreement of granting South Korean loans to Egypt was signed, which stands as a general outline for future cooperation with Export-Import Bank of Korea. It will benefit from the facilitated loans the bank enables to the developing countries.

She explained that a MoU worth $3bn was signed to fund projects in the fields of transport, solar, and new energy with the ability to add any projects the government considers as priority in agreement with Korea. In addition, preliminary agreement of a grant to establish Egyptian Korean school of technology was signed. The school is expected to be launched in Beni Suef.

A preliminary agreement of a facilitated loan was signed between Egypt and South Korea to develop traffic lights between Nag Hammadi and Luxor on 118km with $114.98m. The loan will be granted with an interest rate of 0.15% annually and is to be repaid over 40 years with a grace period of 10 years. The project aims to develop the technological system on the railway to decrease the train accident rates. In addition, the executive agreement of the project was signed as well.

March 3, 2016
Vienna talks basis for discussion between Shoukry and Syrian opposition delegation

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met with the follow-up committee of the Cairo Conference for the Syrian Opposition Saturday, where the Syrian conflict was discussed.

The Syrian opposition’s two-day conference held in June outlined a code of conduct for the transitional period, covering a wide range of issues on the political, social and military levels, as well as the refugee crisis.

Shoukry stressed during the meeting that the only resolution for the Syrian conflict is a political resolution, coupled with the continuation of the fight against terrorism in Syria and the region, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zaid stated.

The Syrian opposition delegation affirmed its keenness on reaching a political solution, based on successive regional and international agreements, the latest of which was during the Vienna talks.

Shoukry further reflected on the outcome of the Vienna talks that took place on 30 October, and highlighted their importance with regards to the resolution of the Syrian conflict.

The Vienna talks on Syria were an extension of the four-way talks held in Vienna a week earlier by the United States, Russia, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. However, they failed to reach a conclusion. A decision was then taken to broaden the participants to include regional countries such as Egypt and Iran.

The talks were concluded by the proposal of a nationwide truce between Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s forces and the rebels, with the participants calling for the renewal of a UN-led peace process.

A day after the Vienna talks, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned that disagreements over the fate of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad must not impede efforts to end the four-year Syrian civil war, and that Al-Assad’s future must be decided by the Syrian people.

However, substantial differences remain among the participants in the international talks. A major point of contention is Al-Assad’s role in the transitional process.

Russia and Iran remain the Syrian president’s main backers, while the US, its Gulf Arab allies and Turkey have called for his swift removal. Egypt however is attempting to balance between politically supporting Russian airstrikes against “Islamic State” targets due to strategic interests, while diplomatically supporting Saudi Arabia’s stance towards the issue.

Shoukry and the Syrian delegation were in agreement that the Geneva I communiqué signed in June 2012 represents the “main reference” upon which the political process agreed upon in the Vienna talks was established.

The Geneva communiqué stipulated the formation of a transitional government composed of members of Al-Assad’s government and opposition figures, paving the way for free elections. The agreement did not attempt to impose a process on Syria that indicates Al-Assad should step down, a fact that was deemed favourable by Russia at the time.

November 8, 2015
Tripartite GERD negotiations continue in ministerial-level conference in Cairo

The ninth round of negotiations on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) began in Cairo Saturday, to last for two days, to discuss points of conflict and future scenarios.

The tripartite national committee headed by the Egyptian, Sudanese and Ethiopian Ministers of Irrigation began Saturday morning with the opening session.

Egyptian Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Hossam Moghazi stated during the opening session that the pace of the Renaissance Dam’s implementation is much faster than the pace of negotiations, state-owned Al-Ahram reported.

The meeting was scheduled to take place in October; however it was delayed based on requests from Ethiopia and Sudan due to internal conditions in both states.

Moghazi also met with Ethiopian Minister of Irrigation Friday ahead of the conference, where they both stressed the need to hasten the pace of negotiations and the release of technical reports. He also pointed to the importance of the conference, which met on the ministerial-level this time, and not on the level of experts.

The ministerial-level conference is expected to discuss the points of conflict that arose between the two international consulting agencies, which are conducting the needed studies on the GERD’s construction and its impact on Egypt’s and Sudan’s water resources.

Upon sorting out the points of contention, technical reports should be prepared over the course of 11 months to identify the negative effects of the project.

During his visit to the US as part of the United Nation’s 70^th anniversary, President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi met with Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn , and stressed on the need for faster implementation of agreed upon procedures in the Declaration of Principles.

The Declaration of Principles was signed by Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia in March, and constituted the governing principles of cooperation between the three states, paving the way for further agreements.

The dam, which Ethiopia is currently constructing along the Nile, has been a point of contention between Egypt and Ethiopia, with the former fearing that it will affect its share of Nile water.

Egypt rejects the GERD’s current high storage capacity at 74bn cubic metres, as studies showed it will affect its national water security.

As per agreements signed in 1929 and 1959, Egypt annually receives 55.5bn cubic metres of the estimated total of 84bn cubic metres of Nile water produced each year, whilst Sudan receives 18.5bn cubic metres.

November 7, 2015
Members of Pharmacist Syndicate to rebut expired medication agreement

By Engy Adham

Members of the Pharmacist Syndicate established the ‘No Compliance’ campaign to rebut an agreement that the syndicate president conducted with the pharmaceutical industry rooms and association of pharmaceutical distributions.

The agreement aims to regulate the process of clearing all pharmacies in the market from the expired medications.

Pharmacists collected 200 signatures to lobby for adjustments in the agreement. They say this agreement is not in favor of small and average pharmacists; only the big pharmaceutical companies would benefit from such an agreement.

As per law, pharmacists must keep their invoices or else they will not be able to return the expired quantity. Mohamed Seoud, former representative of the pharmacist syndicate, said this could be particularly difficult for some small pharmacies, because they might not be able to get the invoices from some storehouses.

Haitham Abdel Aziz, a member of the campaign, said their aim is ensure justice to all parties, including those who work in small pharmacies.

Islam Fadel, campaign coordinator, says that the Ministry of Health should be involved in these decisions because it is a matter of national security since it is tied in with the welfare of Egyptian citizens.

October 14, 2015
Cairo to host high level EEC meeting 14 September

Cairo will host a high level meeting of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) from 14 to 17 September, said Minister of Foreign Trade and Industry, Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour on Saturday.

The meeting will discuss the feasibility study conducted by both sides on the establishment of a free trade zone between Egypt and the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) states, which are Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan.

The meetings represent the start of setting a framework for negotiations’ over the free trade zone agreement between both sides, Abdel Nour said.

He added that the Egyptian delegation attending the meetings will include all the concerned ministries and organisations, besides the Minstry of Foreign Trade and Industry.

The minister said that he held a discussion session with the EEC’s Chairman, Khristenko Victor Borisovich, at the International Economic Forum in Saint Petersburg, in June. Both parties agreed upon the significance of accelerating preliminary meetings to reach a framework for further negotiations.

The agreement represents a “quantum leap”, according to the minister, in the economic and trade relations between Egypt and EEU states. It will open a huge market for Egyptian exports besides creating opportunities to establish joint investment projects.

Egypt targets to reach an integrated agreement covering the trade and investment systems in Egypt and EEU states guaranteeing a balance in both sides’ interests, said Abdel Nour.

The idea of cooperating with EEU states emerged in December 2014, when Abdel Nour announced during the opening of the annual Egypt Automotive Summit, that the ministry had entered negotiations with the Eurasian Union to sign a free trade agreement.

The agreement would open up the market to as many as 400 million consumers with considerable purchasing power, he added.

August 22, 2015
Petroleum, supply ministries cooperate to transform cooking oil into biodiesel

Ministry of supply will collect cooking oil from different distributers and citizens in exchange for points they get for obtaining free food commodities.
(Photo Handout from Green Pan Facebook page)

A protocol agreement to activate the reuse of cooking oil and transform it into biodiesel was signed between the Ministries of Petroleum and Supply, as well as the Alexandria Company for Petroleum Additives (ACPA), Monday.

The main highlights of the agreement state that the Ministry of Supply will collect cooking oil from different distributers and citizens in exchange for points they get for obtaining free food commodities, state media reported.

The programme will be applied in all governorates in Egypt, whereby ACPA will be responsible for the transformation process.

The signing of the agreement took place between Chairman of the Supervisory Distribution Sector at the Ministry of Supply Mahmoud Abdel Aziz, Deputy Executive Chairman for operations at the state-run Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) Amr Mostafa Kamel, as well as Chairman and Managing Director of ACPA Mosaad Atteya.

Minister of Supply Khaled Hanafi indicated that his ministry will collect the cooking oil through employing young people. Employees will be provided with concessional loans for purchasing tricycles and the needed equipment for the collection of oil.

The loans will be provided in cooperation with the Social Fund for Development (SFD). The Minister added that the main purpose of the programme is to provide support for Egyptian families by providing thousands of job opportunities in all Egyptian governorates, as well as the production of biodiesel at a low economic cost.

The programme was applied last December in one Egyptian governorate, Port Said, wherein 10 young people received training at the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport (AAST), a private university in Egypt. The training involved learning the required techniques for transforming cooking oil into biodiesel.

June 22, 2015