UK, Egypt sign post-Brexit trade agreement

British International Trade Secretary, Liz Truss said the agreement was a clear signal of the UK’s enduring commitment to a close bilateral relationship with Egypt. (Twitter: @trussliz)
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Updated 05 December 2020
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UK, Egypt sign post-Brexit trade agreement

  • The deal is aimed at strengthening political and trade ties between the two countries, a British government statement said

LONDON: Britain’s ambassador to Egypt signed an agreement with the country’s assistant foreign minister for Europe, Badr Abdelatty, on Saturday.

The deal is aimed at strengthening political and trade ties between the two countries, a British government statement said.

The agreement will allow British businesses and consumers to benefit from continued preferential access to the Egyptian market after the end of the Brexit transition period.

After Dec. 31, and Britain’s exit from the European Union, the EU-Egypt Association Agreement will cease to apply to the UK.

In addition to securing trade, the agreement provides a framework for cooperation and further development of political, economic, social and cultural links, the statement said.

The UK said it was committed to strengthening its relationship with Egypt and cooperating on issues including education, the environment and human rights.

“This agreement highlights the strength of the UK-Egypt partnership, and reflects our shared ambition to build our cooperation on a range of important issues,” the UK’s Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said.

“Stronger trade links and more investment will grow our economies and help both our countries build back better from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic,” he added.

British International Trade Secretary, Liz Truss said: “This agreement is a clear signal of the UK’s enduring commitment to our close bilateral relationship with Egypt and will help strengthen trade and investment ties in the future.

“It will help provide both British and Egyptian businesses with new opportunities and provide them with the certainty they need to keep trading.

“The UK remains committed to securing deals that support British jobs, deliver significant savings and help drive the post COVID-19 recovery,” she said.

The agreement will provide tariff-free trade on industrial products, liberalization of trade in agriculture, agri-foods and fisheries making trade easier, as well as delivering significant savings to businesses in both the UK and Egypt.

Total trade on goods and services between the UK and Egypt was worth £3.5 billion ($4.7 billion) in 2019.


Israel attacking Lebanon every 4 hours on average: Research

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Israel attacking Lebanon every 4 hours on average: Research

  • Independent conflict monitoring organization recorded 1,846 Israeli attacks since start of ceasefire
  • UN has recorded more than 10,000 violations, killings of 127 Lebanese civilians

LONDON: Israel is attacking Lebanon at a rate equal to one strike every four hours despite the reaching of a ceasefire more than a year ago, new data has shown.

ACLED, the independent conflict monitoring organization, recorded 1,846 Israeli attacks on Lebanon since the beginning of the ceasefire with Hezbollah.

Only two days each month since then has not seen an Israeli attack on average, Sky News reported.

In recent weeks, Israeli has ramped up cross-border strikes, with December seeing an average of six per day, or one every four hours. It is the fastest pace of attacks by Israel since May.

The UN Interim Force in Lebanon said the ceasefire has been violated more than 10,000 times, or once every 53 minutes on average.

That figure includes more than 2,500 ground activities by the Israel Defense Forces and more than 7,800 violations of Lebanese airspace.

UNIFIL has discovered more than 360 weapon and ammunition caches south of the Litani river. These are reported as ceasefire violations.

The discovery of the caches is proof that Hezbollah is seeking to rearm in the south, Israel has claimed.

But Kandice Ardiel, UNIFIL’s deputy spokesperson, said: “None of these weapon caches were guarded. They had no obvious signs of recent use and were presumably abandoned. Many were even destroyed already, or half-destroyed.”

According to UN figures, at least 127 civilians in Lebanon have been killed by Israeli strikes since the beginning of the ceasefire.

Israel has argued that the ceasefire agreement stipulates Hezbollah’s complete disarmament, not only in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah disputes this, and has conditioned its disarmament on Israel’s complete withdrawal from Lebanese territory.

Israel was supposed to withdraw from Lebanon by Jan. 27 this year, with a later extension to Feb. 18.

But Israel has instead ramped up its presence in Lebanon, constructing a new base in February. Four other bases are held by Israel in Lebanon, on hilltops across the south.

The Lebanese government has raised objections to the Israeli bases with the UN, which found that two sections of Israel’s new border wall cross into Lebanese territory.

More than 64,000 Lebanese remain displaced from their homes. One resident of the now-destroyed town of Aita Al-Shaab said: “Anyone who comes to rebuild is attacked (by Israel).”