Migrants, Meloni and von der Leyen at al-Sisi. EU-Egypt 7.4 billion deal signed. PM: "Historic meeting".

Investment Plan for the Near South

The package of interventions under the Southern Neighbourhood Investment Plan is impressive. Through EUR 35 million in grants, the EU will support Egypt in the completion of electrification and other modernisations. Aid also in agriculture in which Italy is particularly involved: it will provide technologies to expand storage capacity and wheat production to cope with the lack of Ukrainian wheat.

In the meantime, Italian financial agencies have already set in motion to support the penetration into Africa from Cairo envisaged by the Mattei plan. Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, Simest, Sace and Ice have opened their own branches in Cairo next to the new offices of the Italian Embassy. In the Egyptian capital, top management signed agreements with private Egyptian companies for a total amount of over 150 million euro. Cassa Depositi e Prestiti signed four agreements worth a total of over 150 million, two of which in favour of the Egyptian Central Bank, amounting to over 58 million euro for the support of local small and medium-sized enterprises, particularly for young people and women.

Also at the centre of the summit was the crisis in the Middle East, starting with the clash between Israel and Hamas. "We are facing a very complex international situation. The Gaza crisis is at the top of our concerns," stressed Meloni in her speech at the EU-Egypt summit. "I am proud to be able to announce that there is a memorandum with the Egyptian health ministry to strengthen cooperation in the health sector" to help "civilians arriving from Gaza, part of the effort Italy has been making since the beginning of the conflict".

There is a "catastrophic" humanitarian situation in Gaza and an "unacceptable famine", added European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at a joint press point in Cairo after the signing ceremony of the Joint Declaration on the Strategic Partnership between the EU and Egypt. "It is crucial to reach an agreement for a rapid ceasefire that allows for the release of hostages and enables the arrival of additional humanitarian aid to Gaza," von der Leyen continued that "the EU is doing everything in its power to provide the necessary assistance Today Gaza needs 500 trucks (of aid, ed.) per day - or the equivalent by land, air and sea," she added. "We are very concerned about the risks that a large-scale offensive in Rafah could have on the vulnerable civilian population".

The Italian premier's trip to Egypt was on the eve of the start of the trial of the four Egyptian 007s accused of kidnapping, torturing and killing Giulio Regeni in 2016. Meloni confirmed that the agreements do not change Italy's position: 'On the trial we have moved forward, in search of truth and justice. Italy always tends to pose this question then there is a trial in Italy, we have gone ahead to do what we have to do," Meloni said when asked if she had addressed the Regeni case with al-Sisi. "There is a judicial process that is going on, for us it is important, in my opinion it has to go on, we will continue to try to get even more. I think what we have to do is to move forward on the front of truth and justice." 'I have read Elly Schlein's criticism,' she added, 'but I did not run to be secretary of the PD'.

The Dems attack. "Giorgia Meloni flatters us when she says she does not think like the PD - was Schlein's reply -, because we do not mock people and we would not make agreements with regimes like the Egyptian one, which has been covering up Giulio Regeni's murderers for years. As usual, Meloni asks the wrong questions: from Al Sisi she should demand the contact details of the four Egyptian service agents accused in the trial for the torture and murder of Regeni'.

La premier Giorgia Meloni al Cairo

Italy considers Egypt a strategic country. Not only for the mediation function it exercises in the crisis between Israel and Hamas, but also for the role it can play in managing the migratory push on Europe from Africa.

The new EU resources between loans and subsidies follow the release of the loan by the International Monetary Fund (unlike Tunisia) necessary to prevent the North African country's economy from collapsing, increasingly central given the developments between Ukraine and the Middle East. A choice, however, that is being challenged in the European Parliament by socialists, greens, liberals and even a part of the European People's Party, according to whom Brussels cannot provide funds to a country where democracy and human rights are not guaranteed.

Relations between the EU and Egypt are governed at bilateral level by the Association Agreement, signed on 25 June 2001 and in force since 1 June 2004. Egypt is one of only two countries in the Southern Neighbourhood -along with Jordan- with which Partnership Priorities have been approved for the financial period 2021-2027. From Sunday, EU-Egypt relations will therefore be elevated to the level of a 'comprehensive and strategic partnership', starting with the joint declaration that will be signed on that occasion. The aim is to accompany Egypt's economic and social reforms and help mitigate the impact of the current crises in Africa and the Middle East.

Moreover, Egypt, it was pointed out by Palazzo Chigi, is a key partner in the management of regional crises (not only the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but also Libya) and the geopolitical stabilisation of the Mediterranean area.

It is also a key interlocutor on migration, energy and economic partnership. Following Eni's discovery of gas, Egypt has become an exporting nation, is increasing gas supplies to Italy and supports the common use of gas resources in the Eastern Mediterranean, also through its participation in the East Mediterranean Gas Forum, of which it is a founding member like Italy. Egypt is strongly committed to the production and export of renewable energy: it has created one of the largest photovoltaic plants in the world (Benban solar park) and is investing in wind power plants in different parts of the country and in the start-up of ammonia and green hydrogen production.

In the background of the meeting the trade relations between Italy and Egypt. In 2023 the interchange was close to six billion (3.3 billion Italy's export; 2.6 the import). 25.4 per cent of Egyptian products imported from Italy are base metals; 24.1 per cent are chemical substances and products; 13.9 per cent are mineral extraction products from quarries and mines; 12.4 per cent are coke and refined petroleum products. There are 114 Italian companies operating in Egypt, active in particular in the manufacturing industry, other business services and mining industry. They employ 11,668 people with a total turnover of EUR 6.6 billion.