Sisi to visit Hungary next month: Trade min

CAIRO – 23 June 3017: Trade and Industry Minister TareK Kabil highlighted the importance of President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi’s visit to Budapest next month.

The visit comes within efforts to boost bilateral relations especially in trade and economy fields, the minister said during his meeting with head of the Egyptian side at the Egyptian-Hungarian joint business council Ahmed Ragab.

In a statement on Friday, Kabil said the talks tackled preparations for the Egyptian-Hungarian business forum due to be held on the sidelines of the president’s visit.

The minister added that the forum is considered a great opportunity for private sectors in both countries to give momentum to economic ties.

The president had paid a visit to Hungary in 2015.

Kabil said the volume of trade between the two countries had increased in the first quarter of 2017 fiscal year.

Egyptian exports to Hungary skyrocketed by 198 percent to stand at 15.3 million euros against 5.14 million euros in the same period last year.

Hungarian exports to Egypt dropped by 37 percent to record 45.77 million euros in 2017 against 28.6 million euros in the same period last year.

Hungarian investments in Egypt in the first quarter of 2017 fiscal year reached 41.45 million euros.