Jérome Monod, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux, congratulated Degrémont on the occasion of the celebration of 50 years of its presence in Egypt and thanked the Egyptian Authorities for the trust they have placed into the group for so many years.

Jérome Monod and Olivier Kreiss, President of Degrémont, proudly underlined the significant contribution made by Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux, through its affiliate Degrémont, world leader for water treatment, over the last 50 years to water supply in Egypt.

Since 1948, Degrémont has realised more than 50 water plants in large cities such as Cairo, Alexandria and Damietta. It is worth noting that for Cairo alone, Degrémont has built plants covering 60% of the drinking water requirements (more than 3 million m3/day). More recently, Degrémont has signed a contract for the extension of the Shubra El Kheima drinking water plant to supply an additional 200,000 m3/day to the Cairo region.

During his visit in Egypt (12-16 December 1998) Jérôme Monod has reaffirmed, in a meeting with President Moubarak, the strong desire of Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux to involve itself to further develop its partnership with The Arab Republic of Egypt to meet the challenges of the protection and optimization of water resources, the efficient management of drinking water distribution and wastewater treatment.

Olivier Kreiss signed in the presence of the Egyptian Prime Minister and the Minister of Public Services and Urban Communities, a final agreement for the construction of the second phase of the Gabal el Asfar wastewater treatment plant serving Cairo. The contract, worth around one billion French Francs, is the most important to be signed internationally by Degrémont to date.

" The Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux Group" Jérome Monod said, " is very keen to take an active participation in the great projects of Egypt including the New Valley. "

Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux is a world leader in private infrastructure services, present in 120 countries. Market leader in the water sector supplying drinking water to 73 million people and providing wastewater services to 49 million people. The group's four core business sectors are energy, water, waste services with an international ambition and communications with an European horizon with annual revenues of US$ 32.5 billion.