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Welcome by Head of Delegation
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Welcome
to the web-site of the Delegation of the European Commission in
Egypt! It is our mission to deepen the relationship between Egypt
and the European Union (EU) and part of that mission is to reach out
to Egyptian citizens. I thus hope that this website will help to
spread information about the European Union and our partnership with
Egypt, and enable you to contact us more easily. |
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On this web-site you will find information directly linked to EU/Egypt
relations, but also numerous links to vast amounts of general EU
information, in particular on
http://europa.eu .
You will also find direct links to the websites of the embassies of
Member States established in Cairo.
The EU is in
an important new period of its development. With enlargement, the EU now
comprises 27 Member States, with almost 500 million citizens. They all
benefit fully from free movement inside the Union, including the right
to live and work in the country of their choice. In March 2007, we
celebrated the 50th anniversary of the the signature of the Treaty of
Rome in 1957, launching a totally new form of governance where sovereign
states join forces to achieve their goals together. Fifty years later,
and while Member States rightly maintain diversity as a source of
strength in many fields, including in culture, language and traditions,
our unity in many policy fields is based on common values: freedom,
democracy, the rule of law, respect for human rights, and equality.
This year, we also celebrate 30 years of partnership with Egypt.
Relations between Egypt and the EU have matured substantially since we
first put the ink to the 1977 Co-operation Agreement setting out basic
trade and technical assistance arrangements. In 1995 we moved into the
realm of the Euro-Mediterranean Barcelona Process, and in 2004 our
Association Agreement entered into force, bringing with it the three
pillars of political, economic and social relations.
Egypt and the EU have taken the partnership one step further this year.
In March, Egypt and the European Union gave the green light to an
ambitious European Neighbourhood Policy Action Plan with Egypt, which
sets out our joint vision for taking our bilateral relations into new
and multi-faceted areas of partnership and co-operation.
The significance of the Action Plan cannot be underestimated. It
provides a policy framework for opening the way for co-operation in
areas where each side has a mutual interest, such as in energy,
environment, transport, scientific research, and in further
liberalisation of trade in services and agricultural products, for which
negotiations have already started. It will allow us to target EU
assistance to support Egypt's own reform programme, especially on issues
that matter to Egyptians, such as education, health and improved
business competitiveness, rule of law and governance. We shall use the
Action Plan to continue to help Egypt to improve its business climate
and to promote investment flows. This will be important for creating
jobs and boosting incomes. The Plan will allow increased contacts
between EU and Egyptian citizens, through educational exchanges for
students and university researchers, and through exchanges between civil
society organisations. The European Commission has announced a new
scholarship scheme for young people in all partners of the European
Neighbourhood Policy. It is important that more young Egyptians study in
EU universities and colleges, and return with the skills needed to carry
on with Egypt’s social and economic transformation. Egypt has been
incorporated in the EU’s Framework Programme of scientific research and
development. This will help boost the capacity of Egypt’s own national
research agencies to exploit the benefits of innovation, strengthen
links between institutions, and promote information technology for
business, government and citizens.
Thank you for coming to our electronic guesthouse – if this is the first
time, I extend a warm welcome. If you are an old friend, I hope you’ll
find our information updates interesting and useful. Either way, I am
confident that our site will further deepen our already strong
relationship with Egypt.
Dr. Klaus Ebermann
Ambassador
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