Egypt Seeks $5b in Trade with Turkey

Egypt is considering a new bilateral strategy with Turkey, in order to boost the total trade volume to $5 billion annually in the near future, said the Egyptian Minister of Trade and Industry during his meeting with his Turkish counterpart, Zafer Caglayan, on the sidelines of the Egyptian-Turkish Business Forum. "There's been a noticeable rise in trade exchange between Egypt and Turkey, about 16 per cent in the first half of fiscal year (FY) 2011, compared with the same period last year; local exports also increased 53 per cent during the same period," said the Egyptian Minister. Turkish investments in Egypt have reached $1.5 billion in the textiles, food industries, medical, chemical, mining and tourism sectors, while top Egyptian imports are cement, cars and carpets.

Local exports reached $704 million, while Turkish imports reached $1.184 million during the same period. Readymade clothes and rice top local exports to Turkey. During the meeting, which was attended by 300 Egyptian and Turkish businessmen, the two ministries discussed widening co-operation between the two countries and exploiting Turkey's successful business model in Egypt. "Co-operation between the two countries is promising," said Minister of Trade and Industry Mahmoud Issa on the sidelines of the forum held on Wednesday, attended by Egyptian PM Essam Sharaf and a number of officials. Issa noted that the two sides have a unified vision on inter-trade and bilateral investments.

Meanwhile, Turkish Minister for Foreign Trade Zafer Caglayan said that the near future will witness more trade exchange and bilateral investments, especially as a number of Turkish companies have expressed a desire to invest in Egypt. In addition, the two countries have signed a three-year memorandum of understanding (MOU), which has already gone into effect. The MOU aims at developing trade and economic co-operation between the two countries, as well as finding new fields of co-operation such as logistic services, technology, technical training, and medium-and-small industries and renewable energy.

The Egyptian-Business Forum came in the light of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's official visit to Egypt, which was considered a crucial one, especially during this time of economic reform that Egypt is witnessing after the revolution. The two ministers also reviewed establishing a maritime line between Alexandria and Port Mercin to help facilitate the flow and boost the competitiveness of Egyptian exports to Turkish markets, as well as facilitating the export of goods to other countries besides Turkey. Trade between the two countries has been rising, ever since Egypt and Turkey signed a free-trade agreement on March 1, 2007.

Erdogan said he wanted to see Egypt involved in the European Union's Nabucco pipeline project. "We would like to see Egypt in the Nabucco project," Erdogan said, according to Reuters. The 4,000 kilometre Nabucco pipeline project plans to transport central Asian gas through Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary into Austria and western Europe with an annual transport capacity of 31 bcm.