British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson (L) meets with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry on February 25, 2017, in the capital Cairo.<br />STRINGER / AFP
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Saturday finalised a $150 million loan guarantee agreement tied to crucial IMF financing for Egypt.
In Johnson’s first visit as foreign secretary to Egypt, he also discussed boosting trade, with UK company investments having reached $30 billion in 2016, according to Britain’s Foreign Office.
Johnson and Sisi “finalised a joint declaration agreement on a $150 million loan guarantee to Egypt,” the British embassy said in a statement.
The British loan guarantee was part of up to $6 billion pledged in bilateral funding Egypt needed to secure to qualify for a $12 billion IMF loan linked with tough economic reforms.
The visit came as Egypt pushes for a resumption of British flights to Sharm el-Sheikh, which were suspended following a jihadist bombing that killed 224 holidaymakers on board a Russian airliner departing the resort.
“The two sides emphasised they would continue working on resuming flights from British airports to Sharm el-Sheikh,” the presidency said in a statement.
Russia had suspended all flights to Egypt after the October 2015 bombing claimed by the Islamic State group.
In the meeting Johnson said his country “looked forward to boosting economic and trade cooperation with Egypt,” the statement said.
Earlier in February, the UK prime minister’s trade envoy Sir Jeffrey Donaldson visited Egypt with an economic delegation.
