8th meeting of the EU-Egypt Joint Committee on scientific and technological cooperation

The 8th meeting of the EU-Egypt Joint Committee on Scientific and Technological (S&T) Cooperation took place virtually on 25 November 2021.

The meeting was opened by Deputy Minister for Scientific Research Dr. Yasser Refaat, and Ambassador Omar Abu Eich, Ministry of Foreign Affairs  from the Egyptian side, and Ambassador Christian Berger, Head of EU delegation to Egypt from the EU side.

The meeting took place under the co-chairmanship of Ms Nienke BUISMAN, Head of Unit, Global Approach & International Cooperation in R&I International Cooperation, on behalf of the European Commission, and Mohamed El-Shinawi, Advisor to the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, on behalf of  Egypt.

On the Egyptian side, the meeting saw the participation of representatives from the Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Academy of scientific research and technology, and Science and technology development fund. On the EU side there were representatives from the European Commission's Directorate General for Research and Innovation, Directorate General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations, Directorate General for Education and Culture and the European External Action Service and Joint research centre.

The meeting was an opportunity for exchanging information and engaging in a discussion aiming at ensuring sustainability of EU-Egypt R&I cooperation.

The two sides took note of recent research and innovation policy developments in both Egypt and the EU, and discussed current and future cooperation opportunities including in the context of EU-Africa cooperation as well as in the context of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM).

The two sides discussed progress in cooperation under the Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area (PRIMA), as well as cooperation prospects under Horizon Europe, particularly under the Africa initiative. The two sides also discussed bilateral cooperation in several areas including R&I capacity building, human capital development, technology transfer and blue economy.