Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi approved the tenth amendment to the US-Egypt assistance agreement originally signed in September 2005, according to state agency MENA. The agreement, signed by the Egyptian government and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), was previously amended in September 2015. The tenth amendment includes both the governmental administration initiative and participation programme. The amendments affect the second, third, fourth and seventh articles of the agreement. The second article of the agreement is replaced in the new amendment. It now stipulates that the goal of US assistance is to support democratic rule, and that the US and Egypt agree to work together on activities empowering the rule of law, human rights, political rivalry, elections, decentralised governance, women's equality, media reform, and civil society. Parts of the third article of the agreement are also removed and the aid figure of $115,410,762 is replaced with $119,072,763. The assistance programme is extended from 30 September 2017 to 30 September 2019 in the fourth article. "The ministry of international cooperation" is replaced by "the ministry of investment and international operation" in the seventh article. The presidential decree was published in Egypt's State Gazette which included the amended parts of the agreement. The decree also includes an appendix detailing areas supported by the assistance programme, including criminal justice, media reforms and women's empowerment. The agreement to apply the tenth amendment was signed on 26 September 2017 in Cairo. Egypt's House of Representatives approved the tenth amendment in April.
