Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak will review an Egyptian-European Union association agreement and set a date for its conclusion during a meeting to be held in two weeks' time, said Information Minister Safwat Al Sherif on Saturday.
Earlier this year, Egypt and the European Union initialed the long-negotiated pact.
"The prime minister stated that the whole plan will be presented to President Mubarak, which entails the modernization plans, time frames, financial support and protection policies for local industries," said the minister, quoted by the Egyptian Gazette.
Sherif said that a program for modernizing the Egyptian industries would be carried out in stages of 10 years.
"The key goals of modernizing the industry include promoting Egyptian products, particularly the competitive ones, and protection of labor in the Egyptian projects."
The EU is Egypt's main trading partner, accounting for $9 billion out of its total foreign trade volume of $24 billion in June 2000, said the paper – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
