2.0 Background Egypt is located in the north-eastern corner of Africa and south-western Asia, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Libya and the Gaza strip, and the Red Sea north of Sudan. The total area of the Arab Republic of Egypt reaches nearly 1.002.000 m², however, the populated area reaches 55367 km² representing 5.5% of the total area (Ministry of Petroleum, 2010). In 2012, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is $256.7 billion US dollars and GDP per capita is $6,700 US dollars which ranked 143 in the world (CIA, 2013). Obviously, Egypt is not a rich country. Despite the relatively high levels of economic growth in recent years, living conditions for the average Egyptian remained poor and contributed to public discontent. After unrest erupted in January 2011, the Egyptian Government backtracked on economic reforms, drastically increasing social spending to address public dissatisfaction, but political uncertainty at the same time caused economic growth to slow significantly, reducing the government's revenues (ibid). Egypt experiences increasing water scarcity and a rapidly growing population. With virtually no rainfall, the