The European Union (EU) will finance six new Egyptian projects with €18m in grants, representing the first phase of EU's Cross-Border Cooperation (CBC) programme, said Egypt's Minister of Investment and International Cooperation (MIIC), Sahar Nasr, on Saturday. Nasr affirmed that these projects will be implemented through the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce, Academy of Scientific Research and Technology, the Arab Academy for Science, Technology, and Maritime Transport, and Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology in collaboration with their partners from Italy, Spain, France, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon, Jordan, and Tunisia. The projects aim at boosting collaboration between north and south of the Mediterranean in fields of tourism, textile, SMEs, environment, renewable energy, as well as connecting industrial sectors with the universities and research centres, Nasr added. The minister explained that the first phase of EU programme covers the traditional projects with two-year implementation period, adding that the second phase will be implemented over three years and will include more partners with larger budgets. The MIIC was able to get €77.5m for financing 29 projects in grants, the minister noted, affirming the ministry's efforts to enlarge Egypt's share of this kind of finance.
