Egypt has signed on Monday EU development financing grants worth €138 million ($145.6 million) designed to cover various sectors including health, administrative reform, environment, rural and community development, and governance. "The grants signed today aim to improve the standard of living and promote development in many vital sectors." Ambassador of the European Union in Egypt, Christian Berger said. The signing ceremony attested a €24 million grant agreement between the EU's Integrated Rural Development programme and the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation to assist the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation. It also included signing the project of the Public Financial Management to uphold the Ministry of Finance with a €5 million grant. It also will support the Sustainable Development Strategy and the Administrative Reform Plan with a €5 million grant, as a support to the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, and the Central Agency for Organisation Administration (CAOA). It involved the framework of "EU Support to Enhanced Administrative and Public Economic Governance in Egypt" programme, which will be enforced through the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Egyptian Minister of International Cooperation Rania al-Mashat highlighted the importance of strategic relations between Egypt and the EU, and in moving forward by enhancing cooperation within the framework of the 2021 – 2027 Cooperation Strategy. Since 2008, EU has raised €650 million in grants for many development sectors. It contributed to the provision of €7 billion in concessional financing, which provided by European financial institutions and member states of development banks.
