Published at: 27 April 2009
The Fifth Meeting of EU-Egypt Association Council was held in Luxemburg on April 27th, 2009. Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit headed the Egyptian delegation that included the Minister of International Cooperation Fayza Aboul Naga and a number of Egyptian senior officials from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Trade, Industry, and Finance. The European delegation was headed by Foreign Minister of Czech, Karel Schwarzenberg as being the current EU Council President, and included Foreign Minister of Sweden (the upcoming EU Council President), Carl Bildt, EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana, European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy, Benita Ferrero-Waldner and a number of senior officials at the European Commission.
Spokesman for the Foreign Ministry and member of the Egyptian delegation, Ambassador Hossam Zaki stated that the meeting was positive and witnessed clear and constructive discussions between both sides, which showed the continuous progress of relations in all fields. The Egyptian and European side declared at the end of the meeting the establishment of a workgroup on the senior officials level to discuss means to execute the Egyptian proposals concerning the development of relations between both sides. It was agreed to start holding the workgroup meetings in the near future.
The Spokesman pointed out that, during the Council’s meeting, Aboul Gheit also headed a political dialogue session between both sides. The session witnessed exchange of viewpoints regarding several international, regional, economic and political issues of common concern, particularly the Middle East peace process, the situation in Sudan, the Union for the Mediterranean demarche developments and non-proliferation efforts. Aboul Gheit presented Egypt’s vision on the global financial crisis and means to support efforts aiming to solve its repercussions and avoid its repetition, including issues related to reforming the international financial and monetary system. Both sides reviewed the current political, economic and social developments in Egypt and the EU.
The Spokesman stated that the Association Council meeting witnessed a general session focused on discussing means to promote relations between Egypt and the EU in various political and economic fields, in addition to enhancing commercial ties and financial cooperation tools. The session also reviewed the positive outcomes resulted from the different sub-committees meetings emanating from the Association agreement, which reflects the ambitious steps that both sides carried out to boost relations between them.
