Egypt is to implement the development agreements signed with Iraq in October to strengthen bilateral cooperation between the two parties. The terms of the agreement states that Cairo is to executive projects in Iraq in exchange for petroleum products.

The other areas covered by the agreement are judicial training, water resources, health, environmental protection, maritime logistics, road infrastructure, etc. Egypt has announced that it is ready to overcome any measures that could hinder the immediate activation of the collaboration and undertakes to prepare a presidential directive to form a permanent project monitoring committee.

The local demand for petroleum products in Egypt continues to rise while the domestic supply is not sufficient. This is the prompt that made the Egyptian authorities turn to Iraqi supplies that will help to meet the demand for petroleum products.

Egypt has built stronger relationships with Iraq over the past three years after its former supplier of hydrocarbons, Saudi Arabia, stopped to supply Egypt, due to the lack of effective economic reforms from the Egyptian side to revive its economy.

The Prime Minister of Egypt, Mostafa Madbouly, said that the execution of the oil agreements signed between the government and Iraq last month will be effective as soon as the constitutional procedures are completed. These are 15 agreements, some of which relate to the implementation by Egypt of oil development projects on Iraqi territory, in exchange for oil products.

The Egyptian Minister of Petroleum, Tarek El-Molla, said that the Iraqi imports of petroleum products into Egypt fell by 46% in the first quarter of fiscal year 2020-2021, due to the coronavirus crisis which has negatively affected activities linked to the entire value chain of the sector.