The European Union (EU) and Egypt have recently signed an Implementing Arrangement for mutual assistance under Article 2 of the ‘Agreement for scientific and technological cooperation between the European Union and Egypt’ setting out the terms and conditions for participation of Egypt in the Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area (PRIMA).
The agreement supports scientific research and innovation in areas of sustainable management of water and food systems in Mediterranean countries by pooling know-how and financial resources in a strategic research partnership between the EU and participating states, including Egypt.
PRIMA is funded in the major part by the EU to the tune of EUR 220 million, with the remaining budget coming from the 19 participating States. This empathises the principle of co-ownership and co-funding.
The agreement was signed by Ambassador Ivan Surkoš, Head of EU Delegation to Egypt, on the European Union side and Mohamed Shinawi, International Relations and Agreements Advisor to the Minister for of Scientific Research, on the Egyptian side.
The official ceremony took place at the Ministry of Scientific Research, in presence of Egypt’s Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar.
In his opening remarks Ambassador Surkoš indicated that “I am especially pleased to see that Egypt is now fully integrated in the PRIMA family. This is the largest Research and Innovation initiative in the history of Mediterranean. The goal of this initiative, which is to build stronger scientific exchanges and knowledge flow across the Mediterranean shores in two critical areas: agro-food chains and sustainable water management. Devising new approaches to improve water availability and sustainable agricultural production are important both to EU and Egypt”
Ambassador Surkoš also highlighted that “PRIMA is a materialisation, not the only one but certainly an important one, of shared vision between the EU and Egypt. This partnership has already become a key building block in the EU-Egypt relationship”.
Watani International
11 November 2019