Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif attended on Sunday the signing ceremony of an agreement between Cairo and the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development on upgrading poultry industry.

By virtue of the agreement, the fund offers Egypt 26 million Kuwaiti dinar as a loan to help th government face the bird flu and rehabilitate the poultry industry.

Signing the agreement were International Cooperation Minister Fayza Abul-Naga and Abdul-Wahab al-Badr, the Director General of the Kuwaiti fund.

Loans of the Kuwait fund are always soft and with favourable terms, including a 10-year grace period and an annual interest rate of 2 per cent, she added.

The loan is also expected to cover a number of projects, to be financed by the Fund.

He is also expected to hold talks with a number of officials on the projects financed by the Kuwait Fund in Egypt, mainly in the electricity and energy domain.

Spokesman for the Cabinet Magdy Rady said the loan will contribute to boost Egypt's capabilities in fighting bird flu, protecting public health and environment and developing the local poultry industry through setting up 35 slaughterhouses with their facilities and 50 farms to produce table egg.

The loan will also help about 12000 shops turn from live poultry business to frozen one.