Inclusion in this chronology does not necessarily indicate that a particular development is of direct or indirect proliferation significance. Some entries provide international or domestic context for technological development and national policymaking. Moreover, some entries may refer to developments with positive consequences for nonproliferation.

March 2000
The pan-Arab-leaning Al-Wifaq Al-Qawmi opposition party is founded. Its platform declares: "Egypt should obtain nuclear weapons in order to maintain peace in the region."
—Al-Ahram Weekly (Egypt), 9 March 2000, as cited in Yotam Feldner, "Egypt Rethinks its Nuclear Program: The Egyptian Nuclear Lobby (2)," The Middle East Media Research Institute, 22 January 2003, <http://www.memri.org/>.

27 April 2001
During a three-day visit to Russia, Egyptian Minister of Electricity and Energy Ali al-Sa'idi and Russian Minister of Atomic Energy Aleksandr Rumyantsev sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy. In addition to the MOU, the countries sign contracts to supply Egypt with "nuclear equipment" to modernize and upgrade the Inshas reactor and also discuss the possibility of greater cooperation in the nuclear sphere. Al-Sa'idi states that at present, Egypt has no plans to build a nuclear reactor to produce electricity. He notes however that "if in the future [Egypt] will need to use nuclear energy to generate electricity, [it] will have the expertise to do this."
—Ashraf al-Sabbagh, "Egyptian Minister Cited on Egyptian-Russian Nuclear Cooperation," Abha Al-Watan, 29 April 2001, in FBIS Document GMP20010429000055; "Egypt, Russia Sign Cooperation Agreement on Peaceful Use of Atomic Energy," Middle East News Agency, 28 April 2001; in BBC, 28 April 2001.

Late 2001
According to a report by the World Energy Council, Egypt is planning the construction of a 600MW nuclear power plant at El-Dabaa, with anticipated completion in about 2010.
—World Energy Council, "Nuclear," Survey of Energy Resources, 2001 (London, 2001), <http://www.worldenergy.org/wec-geis/publications/reports/ser/overview.asp>.

23 January 2002
President Hosni Mubarak and Chinese President Jiang Zemin sign the Cooperation Agreement on Peaceful Use of Nuclear Energy during talks in Beijing. According to German intelligence services, the agreement stipulates to Chinese assistance with mining of uranium deposits on the Sinai Peninsula and investigating the possibilities of production of uranium hexafluoride (UF6). The information remains unconfirmed and is not corroborated by either German or U.S. official sources. According to Egyptian officials, under the agreement, "Egyptian-origin natural uranium could be enriched to 20% or less by China using gas centrifuge plants China has set up with assistance from the Russian Federation."
—"President Jiang Zemin Holds Talks with Egyptian President Mubarak," Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Finland, 24 January 2002, <http//www.chinaembassy-fi.org/eng/24645.html>; "Embassy Spokesman On the So-called China's Assistance to Egypt in Developing Nuclear Weapons As Reported by German Newspaper Die Welt," Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the Arab Republic of Egypt, 27 June 2002, <http//www.chinaembassy.org.eg/cn0400/eng0400/020627.htm>; Jacques Schuster, "Cairo Wants to Build Nuclear Bomb; Egypt is Said to Be about to Enrich Uranium with Help from China and to Purchase Long-Range Missiles," Die Welt, 22 June 2002, in "German Daily Egypt Wants to Build Nuclear Bomb, Acquiring Long Range Missiles," FBIS Document EUP20020621000487, 06/22/2002; Mark Hibbs, "Claim Egypt Has Secret Program Unfounded, U.S. Tells Germany," Nucleonics Week, Vol. 43, No. 28, p. 9, 11 July 2002, in Lexis-Nexis, <http://www.lexis-nexis.com/>, 25 July 2002.

21 May 2002
Writing in the Egyptian government daily Al-Ahram, the head of the Egyptian Parliamentary Foreign Liaison Committee Dr. Mustafa Al-Fiqi argues that the Arab world should obtain nuclear weapons in order to counter Israel's. He declares: "The question now is would it not be better for us to proceed with possession of Arab nuclear arms…? Nuclear usage for peaceful purposes can lead to other usage if the funds and know how are available. We have both."
—Mustafa al-Fiqi, "Nuclear Arms and the Middle East Conflict," Al-Ahram, 21 May 2002, in "Middle East Nuclear Strategic Balance Viewed," FBIS, GMP20020521000304.

June 2002
Egyptian Minster of Energy and Electricity Hassan Ahmad Yunis announces that Egypt plans to build a nuclear power plant near Alexandria.
—"China Denies Giving Egypt Nuclear Help," United Press International, 1 July 2002. <http://www.upi.com/print.cfm?StoryID=01072002-111929-5146r>.

27 June 2002
Responding to the allegations in the German newspaper Die Welt that it was assisting Egypt in developing nuclear weapons, Chinese embassy in Egypt issues a statement calling the newspaper report "a complete fabrication."
—"Embassy Spokesman On the So-called China's Assistance to Egypt in Developing Nuclear Weapons As Reported by German Newspaper Die Welt," Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the Arab Republic of Egypt, 27 June 2002, <http://www.chinaembassy.org.eg/cn0400/eng0400/020627.htm>.

29 June 2002
Egypt's Air Defense Chief Lt. General Samy Annan states at a Cairo press conference that there is a pressing need for Egypt to possess a deterrent force.
—James Hackett, "Egypt to Pose a Future Threat?" Washington Times, 23 July 2002.

3 January 2003
According to Middle East Newsline, Egypt will be one of the first six countries to participate in the training and other activities at the future Jordanian nuclear research and training center. The United Nations sponsors the facility, and Germany supplies the equipment. The facility will house a synchrotron complex, called the Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications for the Middle East.
—"Jordan Plans to Launch Nuclear Facility," Middle East Newsline, Vol. 5, No. 3, 3 January 2003, <http://www.menewsline.com/sample.html>.

14 November 2003
Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy speaks out against perceived U.S. hypocrisy regarding nuclear imperatives for Iran versus Israel; the latter is neither a signatory to the NPT (Nuclear Proliferation Treaty) nor subject therefore to IAEA inspections. Fahmy declares "there is no way that [Egypt] can reconcile this...it [Israel] has rebuffed all of Egypt's attempts to convince it to become party to a region free of nuclear weapons."
--Jonathan Curiel, "Egyptian Calls for Nuclear Inspections in Israel; Same Standard Should Be Used All Over Mideast, Ambassador Says," San Francisco Chronicle, 14 November 2003, p.A12

24 December 2003
Presidents Mubarak and Assad appeal to Israel to "forsake nuclear weapons" in the context of a WMD-free Middle East.
--Salah Nasrawi, "Mubarak, Assad Call for Region Free of WMDs," The Jerusalem Post, 25 December 2003, p.5.

	Updated October 2005