Egypt plans to increase the volume of bilateral trade with Turkey from $10 billion to $15 billion over the next five years, announced Minister of Trade and Industry Ahmed Samir on Tuesday.
The visit to Turkey is the first for an Egyptian trade minister in 10 years. At the invitation of Samir’s Turkish counterpart, Omar Polat, the two ministers will meet from August 1-3, as reported by Egypt’s Trade Ministry in a statement.
As an important development, Samir and Polat probed the possibility of utilizing local currencies in bilateral trade in light of the current global issues.
The Turkish trade minister accepted an invitation to visit Egypt in the near future to meet with relevant officials within the high-level trade consultation mechanism framework.
The two ministers also committed to holding a joint committee meeting to expand the scope of the current free trade agreement between their respective countries.
Samir and Polat agreed that it is necessary to link together business circles from both countries through common organizations, business forums, and exhibitions held in both countries.
To this end, both ministers held a meeting with representatives of the Egyptian and Turkish business communities to further cultivate bilateral trade links.
Economic Relations
Economic relations between Egypt and Turkey have deepened in recent years.
Bilateral trade volume hit $7.7 billion in 2022, a 14 percent increase from $6.7 billion the year before.
Additionally, Turkish investments in Egypt amount to some $2 billion, while projects implemented by Turkish contractors in the country are valued at $1.2 billion.
Meanwhile, Egypt’s exports to Turkey grew by 32.3 percent last year, reaching $4 billion in 2022 compared to $3 billion in 2021, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) revealed in March.
Source: Ahram Online