Egypt rejects U.S. funding for unregistered NGOs

The Egyptian government officially informed the United States of its refusal to the U.S. funding for the unregistered nongovernmental organizations (NGO) in the country, said Egyptian Minister of International Cooperation Fayza Naga on Sunday. Egypt's official news agency MENA quoted Naga as saying that " the U.S. organizations which didn't sign the required agreement with the Egyptian foreign ministry cannot work in Egypt." According to a list sent by the U.S. side to the Egyptian government on the estimated funds by the United States after the Jan. 25 anti-government protests in Egypt, 14 U.S. NGOs in Egypt received 47.8 million U.S. dollars and 12 Egyptian agencies got 5. 8 million dollars, Naga said. She added that the Egyptian government would not oppose foreign funding to NGOs as long as the funding did not violate the laws in Egypt and was designated for the country's development. The Egyptian Justice Ministry recently started an investigation into the foreign funding for NGOs in the country.