The European Union 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 at an official ceremony in Cairo on 27 July.

The agreement marks 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 with €220 million from the EU research and innovation program Horizon 2020 and by €274 million in contributions from a number of EU Members States (Croatia, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain) and Southern Mediterranean Countries (Egypt, Algeria, Lebanon, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, Israel and Turkey).

PRIMA 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.

“Initialling the international agreement on Egypt’s participation in PRIMA is an important step for further strengthening of the scientific cooperation between the EU and Egypt and for its socio-economic impact; it constitutes a concrete deliverable within the global EU-Egypt relations and strongly contributes to foster regional cooperation based on an integrated approach,” said Maria Cristina Russo, Director of International Cooperation in the Directorate-General for Research and Innovation of the European Commission, who initialled the agreement on behalf of the EU.

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