Egypt Launches Development Projects to Overcome Ukrainian War Impact

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Egypt Launches Development Projects to Overcome Ukrainian War Impact

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The Egyptian government seeks to overcome the impacts of the Russian-Ukrainian war, that led to a surge in inflation rates globally, through various development projects.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi inaugurated on Monday the integrated animal, dairy production complex and mechanized slaughterhouses in Sadat City in Menoufia Governorate.

He affirmed in his opening remarks that Cairo is exerting great efforts to control the prices.

The complex can house up to 5,000 dairy cattle with a production capacity of 1.5 tons of beef cattle.

It also includes a scientific center with a veterinary hospital and six sub-farms in addition to two incinerators for safe disposal of biological waste.

It aims at developing livestock resources to achieve the citizens’ needs and provide job opportunities.

The measures taken by the Egyptian government over the past years have contributed to “raising” the growth rates of livestock production, Sisi explained.

He underscored the importance of increasing production rates in various fields to achieve self-sufficiency and export the surplus while benefiting from the agricultural lands to control production costs in light of population growth and surge in global prices.

Sisi further pointed out that prices in Egypt should have been much higher than their current rates.

However, he said the state is keen on maintaining stable fuel and energy prices, noting that it has postponed a scheduled increase in electricity prices several times to alleviate the burden on citizens.

He called on the private sector to take part in the field of livestock production, given its better work mechanisms and capacities.

The Egyptian President said that inflation rates have risen dramatically in European and Western countries as a result of the Russian-Ukrainian war, noting their huge potential and stable population rate.

According to recent data by the country’s Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), Egypt’s annual urban consumer inflation accelerated to a slower-than-expected 13.5% year-on-year in May, the highest since March 2019.

This rate comes in light of rising commodity and fuel prices around the world.

Among the world's biggest wheat importers, Egypt is heavily reliant on shipments from Ukraine and Russia, and its government has been seeking alternative supplies from countries including India and France.



US Eases Restrictions on Syria While Keeping Sanctions in Place

 A worker stands at a bakery after the ousting of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, January 6, 2025. (Reuters)
A worker stands at a bakery after the ousting of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, January 6, 2025. (Reuters)
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US Eases Restrictions on Syria While Keeping Sanctions in Place

 A worker stands at a bakery after the ousting of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, January 6, 2025. (Reuters)
A worker stands at a bakery after the ousting of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, January 6, 2025. (Reuters)

The US on Monday eased some restrictions on Syria's transitional government to allow the entry of humanitarian aid after opposition factions ousted Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad last month.

The US Treasury issued a general license, lasting six months, that authorizes certain transactions with the Syrian government, including some energy sales and incidental transactions.

The move does not lift sanctions on the nation that has been battered by more than a decade of war, but indicates a limited show of US support for the new transitional government.

The general license underscores America's commitment to ensuring its sanctions “do not impede activities to meet basic human needs, including the provision of public services or humanitarian assistance,” a Treasury Department statement reads.

Since Assad's ouster, representatives from the nation's new de facto authorities have said that the new Syria will be inclusive and open to the world.

The US has gradually lifted some penalties since Assad departed Syria for protection in Russia. The Biden administration in December decided to drop a $10 million bounty it had offered for the capture of Ahmed al-Sharaa, the leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group whose forces led the ouster of Assad last month.

The announcement followed a meeting in Damascus between al-Sharaa, who was once aligned with al-Qaeda, and the top US diplomat for the Middle East, Barbara Leaf, who led the first US diplomatic delegation into Syria since Assad’s ouster. The US and UN have long designated HTS as a terrorist organization.

HTS led a lightning insurgency that ousted Assad on Dec. 8 and ended his family’s decades-long rule. From 2011 until Assad’s downfall, Syria’s uprising and civil war killed an estimated 500,000 people.

Much of the world ended diplomatic relations with Assad because of his crackdown on protesters, and sanctioned him and his Russian and Iranian associates.

Syria’s infrastructure has been battered, with power cuts rampant in the country and some 90% of its population living in poverty. About half the population won’t know where its next meal will come from, as inflation surges.

The pressure to lift sanctions has mounted in recent years as aid agencies continue to cut programs due to donor fatigue and a massive 2023 earthquake that rocked Syria and Türkiye. The tremor killed over 59,000 people and destroyed critical infrastructure that couldn’t be fixed due to sanctions and overcompliance, despite the US announcing some humanitarian exemptions.