Dear Ambassador, colleagues

Today marks an important milestone in our cooperation with Egypt.

The PACSOM project that we are officially launching is embedded in the Strategic Partnership between EU and Egypt.  It also operationalises the Migration Dialogue that the EU has with Egypt, in particular the pillar around Security & Border management. 

This means that PACSOM project is fully part of a major and comprehensive relation the EU and Egypt are building.

PACSOM has been possible thanks to the strong engagement and dialogue with all the partners present today.

I would like to praise in particular the role of Ambassador Wael Badawi for having facilitated the involvement of all major national stakeholders relevant to the Smuggling of Migrants and Trafficking in Human Beings. 

Your commitment in bringing from the start all the people around the table, your openness to listen to everyone needs has been crucial. 

Thanks to this approach, the project can start on solid grounds, notably because the project is about building trust and in-depth collaboration between stakeholders here and in Europe.  It is about people working together.

PACSOM takes into account the respective mandates and roles of the Ministry of Interior, the Administrative Control Authority, the Public Prosecution Office, the Ministry of Justice, the National Coordinating Committee for Combating and Preventing Illegal Migration and Trafficking in Persons, in addressing the Smuggling of Migrants and the Trafficking in Human Beings, from different but complementary angles. 

Given the importance of the Security & Border management of the EU-Egypt migration dialogue, EUR 10 million top-up to the project is already foreseen to further strengthen its impact.

PACSOM is a direct follow-up to the regional project by UNODC that was completed in 2024. It allowed to train no less than 470 officials across law enforcement, judiciary, healthcare and social services on border security, fraudulent document detection, investigative techniques, cybercrime, and victim identification.

The common understanding of the EU and Egypt is to preserve and protect the dignity, rights and safety of all persons, including the victims of trafficking and that the project, like other initiatives in related sectors, will continue applying and expanding Human Rights Due Diligence Policy and related good practices.

Thank you to UNODC and CIVIPOL, the implementing partners of this project. It is an important responsibility to make the best out of PACSOM. You can count on the Delegation and Brussels’ availability to facilitate your work.

Ambassador Badawi, thank you again. You are leaving a strong legacy in terms of collaborative approach, dialogue, pragmatism. Congratulations for your new assignment, even if we will miss you as our main counterpart in the Migration dialogue.