Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met in Cairo on Monday with the European Commissioner for Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement, Johannes Hahn, to discuss a framework for cooperation on a variety of key issues between Egypt and the EU within the upcoming three years. Chief among the topics discussed was the necessity of enhancing joint cooperation on countering terrorism and illegal immigration, as both constitute an increasing threat to the security and stability of the Middle East and Europe. Shoukry highlighted Egypt's ongoing efforts to strengthen border control and expressed his country's keenness to participate in the first round of Egyptian-European talks on illegal immigration by the end of November. The meeting also included the singing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) which outlined the allocation of European financial assistance to a number of development projects in accordance with Egypt's Sustainable Development Strategy 2030. In other matters, the Egyptian foreign minsiter expressed concerns about the EU's technical programme to manage Nile water resources, which was adopted in August 2017. According to Shoukry, the EU's insistence on executing the program within the framework of the Nile Basin Initiative, but without taking into consideration Egyptian concerns over the matter, would undermine Egypt's activities in the joint initiative. The officials also discussed a number of regional subjects of mutual interest, such as the situations in Libya, Iraq, Syria, and the ongoing Gulf crisis. The EU commissioner praised Egypt's efforts to achieve Palestinian reconciliation, as well as ongoing efforts to reach peaceful political solutions to the crises in Syria and Libya.
