Cypriot businessmen delegation to visit Egypt soon

CAIRO – 26 November 2017: A Cypriot businessmen delegation will visit Egypt soon to resume negotiations with the Egyptian side, which started at the Egyptian-Cypriot Business Forum that was held in Cyprus recently, Head of the Egyptian-Cypriot Businessmen Council Saeed Ahmed said Sunday in a statement.

The business forum was held on the sidelines of President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi’s visit to Cyprus last week.

Ahmed revealed that around 40 Cypriot companies has expressed their interest to invest in Egypt in the coming period, adding that the council’s Egyptian side plans to organize a big Egyptian exhibition in Cyprus to promote Egyptian products there.

Egyptian products that could see big demand in Cyprus are textiles, home furnishings, packaging products and chemicals, according to Ahmed.

He said that Cypriot companies are interested in setting new projects in Egypt particularly in the Suez Canal Economic Zone and Upper Egyptian governorates such as Faiyum, in which a LE 100 million industrial city for textiles is being built.

Sectors that Cypriots are eying in the Egyptian market include tourism, food industries, fish farming, fabrics, plastic and chemical industries and pharmaceutical industries. A group of Cypriot investors plan to establish a number of pharmaceutical factories in Ain Sokhna, Ahmed said.

He said that the agreements that Egypt signed with major economic blocs will help it attract investment. These include, the Egypt-Mercosur deal, COMESA and SADC agreements.

During the second day of his visit to Cyprus, President Sisi inaugurated the Egypt-Cyprus Business Forum, which aims to enhance bilateral economic and trade relations between both states as well as exploring mutual investment opportunities.

The forum was a success in regards to different fields such as the energy sector, where it was agreed to extend Cypriot gas pipelines to Egyptian Adco’s processing plant.

Other initial agreements have been signed with Cypriot companies for bilateral projects to export agricultural products to Cyprus and Europe.