The EU pledges EUR bns to Egypt: The EU is set to provide Egypt with a EUR 7.4 bn package of loans, grants, and investments — including some in the green energy sector — through to 2027, after President Abdel Fatteh El Sisi signed a joint strategic partnership and comprehensive agreement with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the Ittihadiya Palace yesterday evening (watch, runtime: 1:03:10).

The breakdown of the funding:

  • EUR 5 bn in concessional loans to provide macro-financial assistance, according to a statement (pdf) by the bloc.
  • EUR 1.8 bn of “additional” investments under the Southern Neighborhood Economic and Investment Plan.
  • EUR 600 mn in grants,including EUR 35 mn for installing additional renewable energy capacities under the government’s Nexus for Food, Water, and Energy initiative.

Does it sound familiar? The EUR 35 mn to develop Egypt’s renewable energy capacities under the government’s Nexus for Food, Water, and Energy initiative (NWFE) listed in the statement accompanying the agreement was originally announced back in 2022, as was the EUR 100 mn from the Food and Resilience and Facility.

One of the partnership’s mutual interest pillars focus on the green transition: As part of the investment and trade pillar, green hydrogen, industrial projects, water security, digitization, and agriculture, and other areas are expected to bring in up to EUR 5 bn of Egypt-bound investment from Europe guaranteed by the European Fund for Sustainable Development and Economic Investment Plan. Towards this end, the bloc will support an EU-Egypt Investment Conference in the second half of the year to encourage private sector inflows into Egypt from Europe.

Renewables cooperation seems to have really caught the interest of the EU: “Egypt has all the resources to become a renewables hub, in particular when it comes to renewable hydrogen,” Leyen said at the presser, adding that the agreement includes stepping up energy flows to help Europe “move further away from Russian gas”. The bloc signaled its intention to invest in our green hydrogen ambitions and projects like GREGY — one of Egypt’s planned electricity linkups with Greece — to enable exports of Egyptian renewable energy into Europe.

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