Egyptian officials signed on Tuesday a number of Memorandum of Understandings (MoU) with German officials to boost cooperation between the two countries in the fields of economy and education, presidency spokesperson Bassam Rady said in a statement.
The MoUs were signed during a meeting of the committee on bilateral cooperation between Egypt and Germany, the statement read.
The signing ceremony was attended by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi who is on a four-day official visit to Berlin where he met with Chancellor Angela Merkel and a number of German officials to discuss strengthening relations and boosting cooperation and also attended the Africa investment summit.
The first MoU, which is an economic cooperation protocol worth €129 million, was signed by Egypt's Minister of Investment and International Cooperation Sahar Nasr.
Egyptian and German officials have also signed a Declaration of Intent on a new Egyptian-German initiative aimed at bolstering technical and vocational education and training.
The initiative aims at establishing an educational monitoring authority and a teacher training academy.
A third MoU aims to boost cooperation in the fields of university education and scientific research, along with an agreement on setting up a German international university of applied sciences in Egypt's new administrative capital.
The fifth MoU was co-signed by Minister of Trade and Investment Amr Nassar, Minister of Education Tarek Shawky, and German conglomerate Siemens CEO Joe Kaeser.
The Siemens MoU aims at supporting industrialization and vocational training as well as increasing the competitiveness of industrial zones and increasing their export capacity.
The German conglomerate has been implementing electricity generation mega projects in Egypt since 2015 with deals worth eight billion euros (approximately $9 billion). It has expressed that it is keen to expand its activities in Egypt.
German investments in Egypt are estimated at 1.5 billion euros and provide around 22,000 jobs, according to statements by the German ambassador to Egypt in February 2017.
Ahram Online
31/10/2018
