by Marwa Yahya
CAIRO, March 23 (Xinhua) -- Egypt and Israel have agreed to launch a new flight route and a new gas pipeline between the two countries, which are expected to deepen their economic cooperation and ties.
The new flight route, from Ben Gurion Airport in Israel's Tel Aviv to the Egyptian city of Sharm el-Sheikh, is expected to start operation ahead of the Jewish Passover holiday when thousands of Israelis would flock to Egypt, the Red Sea resorts in particular.
The two countries also agreed last month to construct a second pipeline that will export the liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Egypt via Jordan.
"Cooperation between Israel and Egypt is expanding. Israel is opening up to the countries in the region, and this is another important step in warming up the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt," tweeted Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.
"Developing Egypt-Israel relations is normal in light of the ongoing peace between the two countries for more than 40 years," said Tariq Fahmy, chairman of the Israeli Studies Unit in the Cairo-based National Center for the Middle East Studies.
Egypt is the first Arab country that signed a Camp David peace deal with Israel, but the "cold relations" were only concentrated on security and limited economic cooperation, he said.
Gamal Bayoumi, head of the Cairo-based Arab Investors Union said that the new flight route will attract more Israeli tourists to the Red Sea resorts in a country that relies on tourism as one of the main sources of foreign currency.
With Russia and Ukraine being the main exporter of tourists to Egypt, the Russia-Ukraine crisis can present a serious blow to the Egyptian tourism sector.
The new cooperation activities are steps for warming the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt at the economic level, Fahmy said, noting that exporting gas to Egypt via Jordan could double Israel's gas export capacity and help Egypt's ambition to be a regional energy hub.
The gas running offshore before crossing the north of Arish city on the Sinai Peninsula can be liquefied at Egyptian plants of Idku and Damietta and re-exported to Europe or Asia, he said.
Israeli gas export through the new route is expected to reach 2.5 to 3 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2022, and may increase to 4 bcm in subsequent years, according to the Israeli Ministry of Energy.
In 2020, nearly 2.17 bcm Israeli LNG were exported to Egypt, according to Egypt's official sources.
On Monday and Tuesday, Egypt hosted the first summit meeting with leaders of Israel and the United Arab Emirates in Sharm el-Sheikh.
During the meeting, the three leaders discussed "recent developments in energy, markets stability, and food security," and talked about the ways to enhance trilateral ties "on all levels" under current circumstances. ■
