The Head of the European Union (EU) Delegation to Egypt, Christian Berger welcomed President’s Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi decision to lift the nationwide state of emergency, saying ” it is an important development.”
Ambassador Burger told Daily News Egypt that the EU welcomes the announcement that the state of emergency will not be extended.
This came during a press conference at the conclusion of Cairo Water Week that took place during the period from 24 to 28 October, in Cairo.
“We think this is a welcomed step because it also comes in line with Egypt’s national strategy on human rights. So we think it is also an important signal for the rule of law. So from the EU side, this is a certainly welcome development,” he explained.
Egypt will lift a nationwide state of emergency that has been in place for more than four years, President Al-Sisi announced in a Facebook post last week.
“Egypt has become, thanks to its great people and its loyal men, an oasis of security and stability in the region,” Al-Sisi said.“This is why I decided to cancel the renewal of the state of emergency throughout the country,” he added.
The Human rights strategy is Egypt’s first integrated and long-term National Human Rights Strategy, to promote fundamental rights and freedoms. The Supreme Standing Committee for Human Rights’ (SSCHR) which is chaired by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was responsible for drafting the new strategy.
Berger told Daily News Egypt earlier that the EU is also ready to help with the implementation of the strategy and its related legislation. “We have our own experience, which we can share. But of course, it’s up to Egypt to decide what it wants to do in the end,” he stressed.
Egypt is perfect destination for investment
Ambassador Berger said that Egypt is a perfect destination for investment. He added that taking into consideration the investors’ needs, Egypt provides easy access to facilities and an administrative process that is easy going as well.
“And here, we have seen several positive steps that were taken by Egypt in recent years, including the new company law, the new taxation law, and quite many legislation that will help attract or make it easier for investors to come,” he said.
“EU cannot bring investors. This is a matter for companies to decide themselves to assess the commercial benefits, the risks, whatever it takes to them to make an investment decision. But we can work with the Egyptian government to make this an attractive place, to create the environment, the atmosphere in which is easy to come here,” he concluded.
Cairo water week stemmed Egypt’s position as international hub for integrated water management, knowledge sharing
Talking about Cairo water week, Ambassador Burger said that this week has again stemmed Egypt’s position as an international hub for integrated water management and knowledge sharing.
“I think this came up throughout the week in many of the sessions that we have had, ]in the high-level policy dialogue platforms that were conducted between Egyptian government officials and the European officials. It also was brought up in the sessions where experts tackled these issues,” he added.
Berger said that the Cairo Water Week has become one of the main platforms for structure dialogue between governments, development agencies, development partners, as well as the private sector. So EU started this already in previous Cairo water weeks.
Burger thinks that this year brought forward the cooperation of various actors that bring support to the water sector.
“One of the important consequences of bringing the private sector in that we had a dialogue that was dedicated to improving investment and business environment in the region in this sector,” he pointed out.
“I want to mention another point as a takeaway from this whole week, is that we managed to, again like last year to raise public awareness on the importance of water as a valuable precious resource for development. But, it went one step further; it instilled collective conscious to treat water scarcity, as an opportunity and for efficiency and productivity, rather than a liability for success,” Berger said.
He concluded by stressing that the water sector is a top priority for the EU here in Egypt and that water is and will remain one of the main pillars of EU intervention and cooperation with Egypt as part of its partnership with Egypt.
