International agreement on Egypt's participation in PRIMA
The European Union (EU) and Egypt have successfully concluded negotiations for an international agreement for Egypt's participation in the Mediterranean Partnership for Research and Innovation (PRIMA).
The agreement was initialled today by Ms. Maria Cristina Russo, Director of International Cooperation in the Directorate-General for Research and Innovation of the European Commission on the European Union side and Dr. Mohamed Shinawi, Advisor to the Minister for International Relations and International Agreements, Ministry of Scientific Research on the Egyptian side.
The official ceremony took place in the presence of Prof. Essam Khamis, Deputy Minister for Hi; Ambassador Raouf Saad, Chairman of the National Bureau for the Implementation of Egypt-EU Association Agreement and Ambassador Ivan Surkoš, Head of EU Delegation to Egypt.
This agreement constitutes an important step towards the full integration of Egypt in PRIMA from its beginning, expected in early 2018. Egypt has played an important role together with the European Commission in developing this initiative since 2012.
The PRIMA initiative is funded by the EU research and innovation program Horizon 2020 (€ 220 million) and by contribution of a number of EU Members States - Croatia, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain- and a number of Southern Mediterranean Countries - Egypt, Algeria, Lebanon, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, Israel and Turkey – (€ 274 million). It aims at developing innovative solutions in two fields of strategic importance in the Mediterranean area - water management and food production - through joint research and innovation projects for the next ten years.
Read the full article via The European Union Delegation to Egypt web site.
[Photo by Rutger Tuller | Flickr]
