Egypt and Israel on Thursday signed a long-delayed $2.5-billion agreement on sales of Egyptian natural gas to Israel, underscoring improved ties between the two countries. Egyptian Oil Minister Sameh Fahmy signed the agreement in Cairo with visiting Israeli National Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, who also met President Hosni Mubarak.
Under the 15-year deal, Egypt will sell Israel 1.7 billion cubic metres of gas a year from October 2006 - a total of about 25 billion cubic metres, Israeli officials said last week. There will be an option to extend the deal a further five years.
But Ben-Eliezer, asked at the signing ceremony when deliveries would start, said: "I hope it is, as has been promised, in something like two years."
"This is a historic day because ... this will be the best indicator to show everyone that the peace between Israel and Egypt is solid," he said.
Ties between Egypt and Israel, which made peace in 1979, were strained after 2000 by Palestinian-Israeli violence. The fighting has lulled and relations have improved.
Egypt, Israel and the United States in December signed a partial free trade agreement. Egypt earlier this year sent a new ambassador to Israel to replace the one withdrawn in 2000 over the Jewish state's handling of the Palestinian uprising.
An Egyptian official statement said the gas deal "comes ... in the framework of both sides' commitment" to the peace treaty.
But Egyptian state media paid little or no attention to the signing. The main government-owned newspapers did not mention it on their front pages, apparently trying to keep the public in the dark over official dealings with Israel.
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