CAIRO (AP) – Egypt, the Zionist regime and the European Union on Wednesday signed a deal to increase liquified natural gas sales to EU countries, who aim to reduce their dependence on supplies from Russia as the war in Ukraine drags on.
The deal, stamped in a Cairo hotel, will see the occupying regime of Israel send more gas via Egypt, which has facilities to liquify it for export by sea, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said.
Von der Leyen, who visited the occupied territories earlier this week, said the agreement was part of Europe’s efforts to diversify energy sources away from Russia and import hydrocarbons from “other trustworthy suppliers.” She named the occupying regime and Egypt who have emerged as gas exporters in recent years following major offshore discoveries.
Under the deal, the EU will help Egypt and the Zionist regime increase their gas production and exploration in their territorial waters. It was not immediately clear how much gas the EU will import from either country.
“It is known that the Russian war against Ukraine has exposed our European dependency on Russian fossil fuels and we want to get rid of this dependency,” von der Leyen said later in a joint news conference with Egypt President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi.
Last year, the European Union imported roughly 40% of its gas from Russia and has had difficulty imposing sanctions on Russia over the ongoing war in Ukraine.
The occupying regime’s energy minister Karin Elharrar said the deal was a result of the conflict in Ukraine, which caused a European energy crisis.
Egyptian Petroleum Minister Tarek el-Molla said the deal will lead to further cooperation between members of the East Mediterranean Gas Forum, which includes Jordan, the occupying regime, Cyprus, Greece, Egypt, Palestine, France and Italy.
In 1979, Egypt became the first Arab country to make “peace” with the occupying regime. But economic agreements have been controversial in the Arab world’s most populous country, where popular support for the Palestinians runs high.