Egypt Granted EGP150 Million from EU

The European Union is granting Egypt 20 million euros (EGP150 million) to improve living conditions and services in slums. Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Fazya Abul-Naga signed the agreement on the non-refundable grant on 22/7/2012 with Marcus Cornaro, the Director of European Neighborhood Policy, Europe Aid Co-Operation Office of the European Commission. The loan will consolidate efforts by the Egyptian government to improve the living standards of inhabitants of the impoverished areas and shanty towns in Egypt. Moreover, Abul-Naga signed with Italy's Ambassador to Egypt Claudio Pacifico on 22/7/2012 a new agreement on school meals.

The deal came as the second part of an Italian debt swap project worth 25.6 million Egyptian pounds, which is carried out through the UN World Food Program in Al-Faiyum, Beni Suef and Minya governorates. The deal is implemented under the umbrella of the National School Feeding Program in these three governorates, which aims at promoting education quality in Egypt via countering hunger and malnutrition. The project will help offer the students high nutritional value meals, in addition to providing their families with food rations.