By Xinhua
Cairo : U.S. Ambassador to Egypt Francis Ricciardone said on Thursday that his country will reduce but not abolish its aid to Egypt under an agreement with the Egyptian government, the Egyptian MENA news agency reported.
However, Ricciardone made it clear that the U.S. military aid to Egypt will remain at the 1.3 billion U.S. dollars as it was, MENA said.
He also expressed the U.S. rejection to conditioned economic and security aid to Egypt, which needed trade and investments rather than foreign assistance.
Egyptian exports to the United States has risen to 7.7 billion dollars in 2007 from 4.3 billion dollars in 2004 due to the advantage of Qualified Industrial Zones, while U.S. visitors to Egypt reached more than 200,000 in 2007, the U.S. envoy added.
Egypt has repeatedly affirmed its rejection of linking U.S. aidto any conditions after the approval of U.S. congress to hold back100 million dollars in aid to Egypt in late 2007.
Egypt is a key U.S. ally and recipient of an annual 2 billion U.S. dollars in aid.