In a plenary session, the Egyptian parliament approved a report presented by the legislative and constitutional affairs committee on a Saudi-Egyptian loan for a development program of the Sinai Peninsula, reported Ahram Online.

The agreement was signed by government officials from both countries in Riyadh, last March, to allow Egypt a soft loan worth EGP 13.3 billion ($ 1.5 billion), for the development of the peninsula and buying Saudi oil products necessary for the development.

“As much as EGP 4.4 billion ($ 0.5 billion) from the total loan amount will be allocated to developing Sinai in the form of building King Salman’s University in Al Tor city, funding a series of agricultural and irrigation projects, and upgrading North Sinai’s network of roads,” the report presented by the legislative and constitutional affairs committee, stated, adding that the remaining EGP 8.9 billion ($ 1 billion) will be for buying Saudi oil products.

The loan agreement is in line with the Egyptian Constitution which states that foreign agreements can go into effect after being approved by parliament and as long as it does not affect any of Egypt’s sovereign rights.

The agreement is part of total agreements worth EGP 222.1 billion ($ 25 billion), announced Minister of International Cooperation Sahar Nasr, according to Al Mal.