The European Union has allocated 200 million euros in aid for Egypt to target youth employment, according to Minister of Manpower Ahmed Hassan al-Borai. Egypt will receive the amount on condition that a complete youth training plan is presented, Borai told Al-Masry Al-Youm. The minister added he would head to the European Parliament by the end of June to brief the EU on the required plan. He said the International Labor Organization intends to kick off a US$10 million employment project, in collaboration with Canada, under the name "Decent Jobs for Egypt's Young People: Tackling the Challenges Together." During a meeting at the German Chamber of Commerce on Monday, Borai said that a training and unemployment fund would be established with a budget of LE2 billon for fiscal year 2011-2012. The minister said the fund's aim is to train fresh graduates before entering the job market and grant them compensation amounting to half of the minimum wage. The Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation plans to formally present the initiative next month. Borai blamed Egypt's rising unemployment on former President Hosni Mubarak's regime, which had appointed an unnecessarily large number of government employees. He added that public sector appointments should have been halted since 1982, but the private sector would not have been able to absorb the huge numbers of job seekers. Translated from the Arabic Edition
