• The aid package includes grants and loans over the next three years, with 5 billion euros ($5.4 Billion) constituted as macro-financial assistance.
• The EU will assist Egypt in fortifying its borders, particularly with Libya, and hosting Sudanese who have fled fighting.
• Egypt has 9 million migrants, including about 480,000 registered refugees and asylum-seekers.

On Sunday, the European Union announced a 7.4 billion-euro ($8 billion) aid package for cash-strapped Egypt as concerns grew that economic pressure and conflicts in neighboring countries could lead to an increase in migrants arriving on European shores.

The deal, which rights groups criticized, was signed on Sunday afternoon in Cairo. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and leaders of Belgium, Italy, Austria, Cyprus, and Greece attended the ceremony.

Before the signing ceremony on Sunday afternoon, El Sisi separately met with von der Leyen and other European leaders.

According to the EU’s mission in Cairo, the aid package comprises both grants and loans over the next three years for the Arab world’s most populous country. A document from the EU mission in Egypt indicates that the majority of the funds — 5 billion euros ($5.4 billion) — constitute macro-financial assistance.

The mission stated that the two sides have elevated their cooperation to the level of a “strategic and comprehensive partnership,” thereby paving the way for expanding Egypt-EU cooperation in various economic and non-economic areas.

El-Sisi’s office said in a statement that the deal aims to achieve “a significant leap in cooperation and coordination between the two sides and to achieve common interests”.

According to the European Commission, the deal, known as the Joint Declaration, aims, among other things, to promote “democracy, fundamental freedoms, human rights, and gender equality.” Both sides will also deepen their cooperation to address challenges related to migration and terrorism.

The EU will assist Egypt’s government in fortifying its borders, particularly with Libya, a major transit point for migrants fleeing poverty and conflicts in Africa and the Middle East. The 27-nation bloc will also support the government in hosting Sudanese who have fled nearly a year of fighting between rival generals in their country. Egypt has received more than 460,000 Sudanese since April last year.

The deal comes amid growing concerns that Israel’s looming ground offensive on Gaza’s southernmost town of Rafah could force hundreds of thousands of people to break into Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. The Israel-Hamas war, now in its sixth month, has pushed more than 1 million people to Rafah.

Egypt says there are 9 million migrants, including about 480,000 who are registered refugees and asylum-seekers with the UN refugee agency. Many of those migrants have established their businesses, while others work in the huge informal economy as street vendors and house cleaners.

For decades, migrants from sub-Saharan Africa seeking to escape war or poverty have sought refuge in Egypt. Egypt serves as both a destination and a haven for some, as it is the closest and easiest country for them to reach. For others, it serves as a point of transit before they attempt the dangerous Mediterranean crossing to Europe.

Egypt faces migratory pressures from the region, with the added looming threat that the Israel-Hamas war will spill across its borders, although the Egyptian coast has not been a major launching pad for people smugglers and human traffickers sending overcrowded boats across the Mediterranean to Europe.

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