CAIRO: Egypt called on the United States last month to speed the passing of Congressional approval for the establishment of the “deposit of the Egyptian-American friendship,” in order to active Cairo's proposals for the restructuring of American aid to the North African nation. The move came as report after report claimed Washington was looking into means of ending aid to Egypt. Egyptian local newspapers reported that the idea of the “deposit” comes as a preliminary step to cancel American aid to Egypt by 2019, while working during this period on strengthening trade and bi-lateral relations between the two countries in economic, commercial and strategic areas of interest, through the QIZ agreement – an economic deal that allows Egyptian-made goods to be imported to the U.S. without taxes if a certain percentage of Israeli material is used – and revitalizing the negotiations of establishing a free trade zone between the two countries. Faiza Aboul Naga, Minister of International Cooperation, explained the Egyptian vision for the future program of economic aid during a meeting with a delegation from the Senate who visited Cairo in November. She said that the request was based on the creation of a deposit to fund a range of projects, including the Mubarak – Obama Fund for Education, Science and Technology, which focuses on the financing of scholarships and institutional capacity building of education and educational reform in Egypt, in addition to a focusing on building the capacity of Egyptian society in the development of human resources. The minister explained to the American delegation the proposed programs of cooperation in the fight against poverty and small, medium and micro enterprises and private sector support. “The U.S administration of President George W. Bush has rejected the Egyptian proposal of restructuring aid, but the Ministry of International Cooperation, re-presented it once again to the Obama administration,” the minister told reporters after meeting with the delegation. On the other hand, Egypt and the United states have agreed on a workplan to double the volume of bilateral trade and investment between the two sides, namely, focusing on facilitating trade, and to address intellectual property rights and improve and increase services that should be increased in the coming period, such as agriculture, infrastructure and renewable industries, environmental and water management, “so that the trade volume reaches 16 billion dollars.” Rachid Mohamed Rachid, Minister of Trade and Industry, said at a press conference with Egyptian reporters in Washington in late November, that he had discussed with both the Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke and U.S. Trade Representative Ronald Kirk, the introduction of new sectors in the QIZ agreement, such as chemicals, furniture and food products. Currently, the QIZ agreement deals only with the textile industry. Rachid confirmed that exporting through the QIZ is strictly voluntary and that Egyptian exports to the United States reached $2.3 billion, including $870 million from the QIZ, respectively. The minister also announced the formation of a joint Egyptian-American businessperson organization that includes 30 members from both nations and which would look into means of increasing relations between the two countries. Members of the organization would be changed every three years. BM
