CAIRO: The Egyptian ministry of international cooperation said the United States has allocated an additional $93.8 million to registered NGOs to implement programs to support democracy in agreement with the government, hinting at the same time the intention of Egypt to dispense the economic aid programs during the next ten years. Marwan Badr, advisor to the ministry, told local newspapers that the US economic aid is intended for programs supporting democracy and good governance and has been ongoing since 2004 and has thus far reached about $208.45 million, adding that among the aid, “there is $114.7 million to fund “government programs to support decentralization and the development of information and the development of family courts and women's awareness of their political and social rights and to support human rights issues and child rights.” He added that the amount of $ 93.8 million allocated to the NGOs to benefit from associations registered with the ministry of social Solidarity, and “fulfilled the requirements stipulated in Law No. 84 of 2004, in order to strengthen the role of Egyptian civil society in the processes of political participation and social development and deepen the concepts of democracy.” Badr said that the volume of US economic aid provided to Egypt since 1975 is about $28.284 billion, of which $24.484 billion for development projects in the sectors of electricity and infrastructure, and the remaining $3.8 billion in loans and food aid, which was stopped in 1993. He also noted that nearly 90 percent of these loans to Egypt were paid back and the remaining money is being paid regularly, while the volume of the program of economic aid since 2009 did not exceed $250 million. The Egyptian government announced that it will be “less needy for economic assistance programs during the next 10 years, while making economic relations and technical cooperation with donors focusing on the area of human development, knowledge transfer and scientific and technological research,” Badr added. BM
