Egypt’s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Karim Badawi, met with Cyprus’s Ambassador to Egypt, Polly Ioannou, to discuss strengthening cooperation between the two countries in natural gas and mining.

Badawi highlighted reforms to Egypt’s mining investment environment aimed at making the sector more competitive and attracting international investors, pointing to the resumption of gold and mineral exploration in the Eastern Desert by Cypriot mining company FMC Cyprus Ltd as an example of the partnership bearing fruit. Ioannou said cooperation with Egypt had helped turn Cyprus’s own gas discoveries into operational projects, crediting the ministry’s support in accelerating development and infrastructure connections; she added that another Cypriot company is separately exploring investment opportunities in Egypt’s marine bunkering and ship supply services sector.

The meeting comes as Egypt’s Mineral Resources and Mining Industries Authority rolls out an Open Blocks System for gold exploration, replacing fixed bid-round deadlines with rolling applications across regions including the Arabian-Nubian Shield, part of a wider push to draw major and junior exploration companies into the country’s mining sector with clearer legislation and more reliable geological data.

Source: egyptoil-gas.com