Egyptian Finance Minister Abdel Moneim el Kaissouni was en route from here to Egypt today with an offer from the United States and Britain to help finance the $1,300,000,000 “High Dam” at Aswan on the Nile. The two governments offered Mr. Kaissouni an initial grant of $70,000,000 to start work on the project, which will take 15 years to complete.
The Egyptian Government has yet to accept the Western offer which is conditioned upon a commitment that all contracts on the dam shall be let on a competitive basis, that the Egyptian Government will concentrate its internal resources on the project and that steps shall be taken to prevent further Egyptian currency information.
Premier Gamal Abdel Nasser’s decision on acceptance will be made after Mr. Kaissouni arrives home. The latter will stop off for several days in London before going to Cairo. The initial grants would be made in the form of $56,000,000 in cash from the United States and $14,000,000 in blocked sterling from England.
Meanwhile the United States Government has agreed to give Egypt 80,000 tons of wheat and is making arrangements to give her an additional 70,000 tons in a few days. The wheat will be paid for in local currency which will then be used to assist the national economic development of Egypt.
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