Egypt’s government, represented by the Ministry of Supply and Internal Trade, signed a cooperation protocol with Rungis, the largest French company specializing in the management of wholesale markets in Europe, to rehabilitate and develop the markets of vegetables and fruits in Egypt.

Minister of Supply and Internal Trade Ali al-Meselhy said that the ministry is exerting great efforts to develop the infrastructure for internal trade, especially wholesale markets and logistics areas, which will contribute to facilitating the transfer and distribution between governorates.

Wholesale markets are an essential component of the internal trade system and their management process had become very complex, he added.

Meselhy added that France is the number one country in Europe in terms of the management of wholesale markets.

He said that an agreement was signed between the governments of the two countries to develop logistics areas, wholesale markets and production chains in Egypt, as well as provide technical support and training of Egyptian cadres in a grant of 80 million euros.

First Assistant to the Minister for Investment and head of the Internal Trade Development Authority Ibrahim Ashmawy said that the agreement with Rungis includes management of the wholesale markets in Egypt and providing technical support for a period of six months as a first stage, which is scheduled to start in February.

He pointed out that the agreement aims to reduce the rings of circulation and reduce losses while providing good management, which would lead to a reduction in prices for the consumer by 15-20 percent during 2019.

Ashmawy stressed that the first phase of the agreement includes developing, operating and managing markets for vegetables and fruits. The next phase targets the French company entering the stage of partnership to finance and establish new markets.

Rungis Project Manager Benoît Juster confirmed the importance of the Egyptian market on the company’s future investment map in the Middle East, pointing out that the company hopes to establish a long-term partnership with Egypt in the establishment and management of wholesale markets.

Juster said that his company manages, operates and provides support to wholesale markets in France, as well as other countries such as Russia, Kazakhstan, Benin, the Philippines and Budapest. He added that the company’s annual sales volume exceeds 10 billion euros.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

source:  Egypt Independent

Thousands of British companies have already triggered emergency plans to cope with a no-deal Brexit, with many gearing up to move operations abroad if the UK crashes out of the EU, according to the British Chambers of Commerce.

Before a crucial week in parliament, in which MPs will try to wrest control from Theresa May’s government in order to delay Brexit and avoid a no-deal outcome, the BCC said it believed companies that had already gone ahead with their plans represented the “tip of the iceberg” and that many of its 75,000 members were already spending vital funds to prepare for a disorderly exit.

It said that in recent days alone, it had been told that 35 firms had activated plans to move operations out of the UK, or were stockpiling goods to combat the worst effects of Brexit.

Matt Griffith, director of policy at the BCC’s west of England branch, said that many more companies had acted to protect themselves since May’s Brexit deal was decisively rejected by MPs in the Commons earlier this month.

He said: “Since the defeat for the prime minister’s deal, we have seen a sharp increase in companies taking actions to try and protect themselves from the worst effects of a no-deal Brexit. No deal has gone from being one of several possible scenarios to a firm date in the diary.”

Labour MP Yvette Cooper has revealed to the Observer that two major employers in her West Yorkshire constituency – luxury goods manufacturer Burberry and confectioner Haribo – had both written to her, warning of the damaging effects of no deal on their UK operations. Burberry employs 750 people in Castleford, and Haribo 700 across her constituency.

Cooper is pushing for a Commons amendment – likely to be voted on in Tuesday’s debate – that would pave the way for Brexit to be delayed until the end of this year.

Last week some of the UK’s largest employers – including Airbus, Europe’s largest aerospace manufacturer, which employs 14,000 people in the UK and supports another 110,000 through supply chains – warned of potentially disastrous effects of no deal on its UK activities.

Tom Enders, the boss of Airbus, said: “Please don’t listen to the Brexiters’ madness, which asserts that because we have huge plants here we will not move and we will always be here. They are wrong.”

Ever since the vote to leave the EU in 2016, business groups including the BCC and the Confederation of British Industry have lobbied ministers, arguing that our exporters need access to the EU’s customs union, which allows goods to be imported tariff-free.

But the prime minister has insisted that the UK must leave both the customs union and EU single market if it the referendum result of 2016 is to be fully respected.

Business concerns are growing as Downing Street braces for a series of Commons ambushes over Brexit this week. As well as moves to delay the date of leaving beyond 29 March, MPs worried about a cliff-edge exit or a hard Brexit are also planning to force a series of “indicative votes” in parliament on a range of alternative ways forward. These include a Norway-style arrangement and a second referendum.

Some ministers, including Amber Rudd, the work and pensions secretary, and Richard Harrington, the business minister, have signalled they could quit if May does not allow them to back plans to delay Brexit by granting all Tory MPs including ministers a free vote on the issue.

Meanwhile, some pro-Brexit cabinet ministers are pushing the PM to submit her own amendment pledging to renegotiate her Brexit deal, in a bid to win over Tory Brexiters and the Northern Irish DUP. Concerns are growing within the Tory party that the impasse may end in a snap election.

Today, writing in the Observer, cabinet minister David Lidington says he shares the concerns of those worried about no deal and says the government intends to put a revised deal back to the Commons for another “meaningful vote” next month. “Once we have a blueprint for a plan that can secure the support of the House, the prime minister will go back to the EU,” Lidington writes. “MPs will then have another meaningful vote as soon as possible.”

Meanwhile European commission president Jean-Claude Juncker has warned Theresa May in a private phone call that shifting her position in favour of a permanent customs union is the price she will need to pay for the EU revising the Irish backstop.

Brexiters never had a real exit plan. No wonder they avoided the issue | Nick Cohen

He said without a major shift in the PM’s position, the current terms of the withdrawal agreement were “non-negotiable”. Details of the call, contained in a leaked diplomatic note, emerged as Juncker’s deputy, Frans Timmermans, told the Observer that there had been no weakening of the resolve in Brussels in support of Ireland, and accused the Tory Brexiters of a “cavalier” approach to peace. “Let me be extremely clear: there is no way I could live in a situation where we throw Ireland under the bus,” Timmermans said.

source:  The Guardian

British nationals who have retired to EU countries including Spain and France will no longer have their healthcare covered by the NHS in the event of no Brexit deal, the government has said.

The confirmation will come as a blow to around 190,000 British citizens retired in the EU in places such as the Spanish Costas, Provence in France and Tuscany in Italy.

Brexit weekly briefing: MPs prepare to make do or amend

It could also add to the burden on the NHS if pensioners believe they have no option but to return to the UK for treatment. The government has previously admitted it is cheaper to pay Spain and France to look after British nationals than have them fly home.

Currently pensioners can get treatment reimbursed by the NHS under an EU-wide set of reciprocal arrangements.

“It is another example of how those advocating no deal are playing with the lives of British citizens living in other EU countries,” said Colin Yeo, an immigration lawyer and freedom of movement campaigner. “Many of these politicians and pundits probably haven’t bothered to find out how their policies would actually affect such people.”

Pensioners who have paid in to the national insurance system for the qualifying number of years benefit from the “S1” reciprocal healthcare rules if they retire in EU/EEA countries or Switzerland.

An S1 certificate is available to anyone in receipt of a state pension, and to some workers who are sent overseas on a temporary basis by their UK employers.

In a little-publicised no-deal technical notice published this week, the UK government said: “An S1 certificate helps you and your dependents access healthcare in the EU/EEA country where you live. If you have an S1 certificate, it will be valid until 29 March 2019. After this date, the certificate may not be valid, depending on decisions by member states.”

Sue Wilson, who chairs the Bremain in Spain campaign group, said the change could be devastating. “All along we’ve been told our healthcare is protected. This is a big shock to everyone and our members are really, really scared,” she said.

She called on the government to agree to ringfence their rights. “We’ve been hearing about EU citizens in Britain getting settled status. Well, we have unsettled status,” she said.

The government’s “overseas healthcare” phoneline has updated its recorded messages to include a no-deal warning, telling those who are considering moving to another country within the EEA or Switzerland that their S1 application will only be processed if they apply “in the next four weeks”.

The campaign group British in Europe also said the loss could have a devastating effect on people with continuing healthcare needs. “Just think of the impact of this on a 75-year-old in the middle of vital cancer treatment on 30 March,” said Jeremy Morgan, a spokesman for health issues for the group.

The Spanish and UK governments said they were confident a bilateral agreement would be in place despite the no-deal notice.

The Department of Health said it was “working closely with countries, including Spain and France, to make sure patients can continue to access healthcare, whatever the outcome”.

The Spanish government’s Brexit advice website outlines “contingency measures” that would “guarantee healthcare provision for British citizens in Spain” in the event of no deal.

The technical notice advises retirees to investigate taking up private healthcare in the country in which they now reside, something that is likely to be come as shock to some, especially in the Costa del Sol in Spain where many have retired in order to make ends meet.

The government has suggested worried pensioners research the state healthcare system in the country where they now live and find out if they are eligible for treatment.

There are 70,000 British pensioners in Spain, 44,000 in Ireland, 43,000 in France and 12,000 in Cyprus.

A senior civil servant in the Department of Health told a select committee in 2017 that Spain charged an average of €3,500 per pensioner signed up to the S1, Ireland charged an average of €7,500 and the UK charged about €5,000.

In total, the government paid out about £500m – or £2,300 per pensioner – which he said was significantly lower than the cost of treating pensioners in the UK.

source:  The Guardian