On 12 November in Cairo, CEPOL and Egypt signed their first-ever working arrangement, further consolidating their longstanding cooperation in the field of law enforcement training and marking a new chapter in their partnership.
This formal agreement will enable Egyptian law enforcement professionals to participate, in a continuous and structured manner, in CEPOL onsite, online and exchange-based training activities alongside counterparts from EU Member States.
The signing ceremony took place on the sidelines of the official visit to Egypt by the European Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration, Magnus Brunner. The working arrangement was signed by the Minister of Interior of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Mahmoud Tawfiq, and CEPOL Executive Director, Jan Pecháček, in the presence of Commissioner Brunner, Frontex Executive Director, Hans Leijtens, and the Head of the EU Delegation to Egypt and the League of Arab States (LAS), Angelina Eichhorst.
Ahead of the signing, CEPOL’s Executive Director visited the National Police Academy. He also took part in the delegation accompanying Commissioner Brunner to a high-level meeting with Egypt’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and Egyptian Expatriates, Dr Badr Abdelatty.
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Background information
CEPOL has worked closely with law enforcement partners in Egypt through its capacity building projects, helping to address training needs and strengthen mutual cooperation in support of regional security.
Egypt became a partner country since the EUROMED Police V project was launched in the second half of 2020. The ongoing CT INFLOW and EUROMED Police projects have since further deepened this cooperation.
Egypt’s continued participation contributes significantly to the objectives of both projects and provides a solid foundation for future collaboration. Egypt has also demonstrated its strong commitment through its readiness to host CEPOL training activities.
Within the framework of the EUROMED Police project, Egyptian representatives have taken part in a number of regional and thematic activities. In addition, CEPOL’s International Cooperation Unit worked with Egypt to develop a Train-the-Trainer handbook on firearms trafficking. Expected to be used more widely across the region, the handbook stands as a tangible contribution to regional training capacity.
Under the CT INFLOW project, Egypt has also played an active role in the EMISA network — the Enhanced Mechanism for Information Sharing and Analysis — which serves as a platform for advancing cooperation with the Middle East and North Africa in information sharing and in improving understanding of violent extremism and terrorism-related phenomena. Within this network, Egypt is represented by one co-chair and eight members across several working groups. Egyptian experts have also contributed actively to EMISA’s online activities.
This working arrangement is the second that CEPOL concludes with an African country, following the signature of a working arrangement with Tunisia in 2022.
