CAIRO - 31 May 2021: Head of the Russian Trade Representation Office in Cairo Nikolai Aslanov stressed that Russia is very interested in cooperating with Egypt on all fronts.
Aslanov told MENA on Monday that combined Russian investments in Egypt reached nearly $8 billion by the end of 2020, with special focus on energy.
He expected the coming period will see more Russian investments in the sectors of industry, energy, transport, pharmaceuticals and foodstuffs.
Russia is considering the possibility of contributing to other attractive sectors in the Egyptian economy, including the auto industry, IT, infrastructure, ship-building, minerals and chemicals, Aslanov noted.
The Russian trade representative in Cairo expected a big flow of Russian investments into Egypt, especially following the establishment of the Russian industrial zone.
Aslanov said the two countries are keen on launching the project as soon as possible, which, he added will provide Egypt with a chance for applying state-of-the-art technologies at the Suez Canal Economic Zone when it comes to production, in addition to expanding exports.
The Russian government has already allocated some $190 million to implement phase one of the project, which is set to be up and running between 2021 and 2022, according to Aslanov.
He went on to say that there are promising vistas of cooperation with Egypt in the railways sector, pointing out that Moscow is looking forward to cooperating with Egypt in several projects as far as the railways service is concerned.
As for the volume of trade exchange between Egypt and Russia, he said it hit $4.5bn in 2020, compared to $6.250bn in 2019, attributing the reduction to Covid-19 pandemic.
Shifting to the Eurasian Economic Union, Aslanov said three rounds of negotiations were held bringing together Egypt and the union, which tackled customs and trade cooperation.
Egypt and the EEU countries are expected to sign an agreement by 2021 or 2022, he said, adding the two sides share a full understanding as far as the deal is concerned.
The agreement will contribute to promoting cooperation and trade exchange, in addition to transferring experience and advanced IT, Aslanov concluded.
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