President of the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology (ASRT) Mahmoud Saqr said that Britain's exit from the European Union would not affect scientific agreements between Cairo and London.

In statements to MENA on Monday, Saqr underlined that scientific cooperation between Egypt and Britain is strong, citing the establishment of a 24-million-sterling fund named the Newton-Mosharafa Fund in 2014.

The fund focuses on five areas; sustainable water management, renewable energy, sustainable food production, archaeology and cultural heritage and
affordable and inclusive healthcare, he added.

ASRT is the biggest research entity that won EU-funded projects, he said, noting that EU Ambassador in Cairo James Moran honored the academy as the best research partner for the EU. 

The EU granted nearly 13 million euros to finance research projects in Egypt, Saqr said. 

He underlined that the EU also backed the Multipurpose Applications by Thermodynamic Solar (MATS) project.

The project aims at promoting the exploitation of concentrated solar energy through small and middle scale facilities, suitable to fulfill local requirements of power and heat, and easily to back-up with the renewable fuels locally already available or that can be expressly produced. 

The implementation of the project will allow testing the CSP (Concentrating Solar Power) technology in a location very advantageous with regard to the solar radiation rate as an example for the diffusion of this technology in other Mediterranean Countries. 

Source ; MENA