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Ursula von der Leyen and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in June 2022

Photo: Egyptian Presidency / AFP

The European Union wants to expand its relations with Egypt with financial commitments worth billions.

The financing is expected to amount to five to six billion dollars, Egyptian Finance Minister Mohamed Maait told Asharq Business.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will lead a delegation on Sunday that also includes the Italian and Greek prime ministers and the Cypriot president.

European leaders are expected to announce the multibillion-dollar financing package and an improvement in relations with Egypt.

The agreement aims to improve cooperation in areas such as renewable energy, trade and security, while providing grants, loans and other financing over the next three years to support Egypt's flagging economy.

It is also an attempt to curb migration across the Mediterranean.

The number of migrants who are currently trying to cross from Libya to Greece and thus to the EU is increasing.

The Greek government is also concerned about increasing arrivals of migrants of Egyptian origin via a new refugee route from Tobruk in Libya towards Crete.

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has already registered more than 1,000 people who arrived in Gavdos or Crete from Tobruk this year.

Most of them are said to come from Egypt.

Hard hit by the Israel-Gaza war

The EU signed an agreement on gas deliveries with Egypt and Israel two years ago.

The agreement called for natural gas from Israel to be transported to Egypt, liquefied there and then delivered to Europe.

At that time, von der Leyen also promised to set up a food fund worth 100 million euros for Egypt.

In addition, a total of three billion euros was planned to be made available for programs to promote water supply, agriculture and food security for the region over the next few years.

European governments have long been concerned about the risk of instability in Egypt's population of 106 million.

Egypt has been hit hard by Israel's war against Hamas in neighboring Gaza, negatively impacting tourism bookings and natural gas imports.

The country has difficulty obtaining foreign currency and the economic hardship has caused more and more people to emigrate in recent years.

abl/Reuters/dpa