Egypt, Algeria seek to establish a business council for small enterprises

CAIRO – 18 May 2021: There is a great convergence between Egypt and Algeria in the field of youth support, welcoming cooperation between the two countries in various fields, describing it as necessary, according to Minister Delegate (Minister of State) for Small Enterprises, Emerging Institutions and the Algerian Knowledge Economy, Nassim Dhiyafat.

"We are seeking to establish a business council for small enterprises in the two countries, and we are working hard for the advancement and advancement of our youth," Dhiyafat said.

"Young people are the ones who will build the two countries and we have great confidence in them and we will help them to the best of our capabilities, especially as I am a young minister and I am well aware of their ambitions,” he added.

He pointed out that he met Ambassador Ayman Mosharafa, the Egyptian ambassador to Algeria, who provided him with information about small enterprises in Egypt. The Algerian minister also made a presentation to him about the reality of small and emerging enterprises in Algeria.

"We found that there is a great convergence between the two countries in this field. We touched the efforts of the two countries to serve their youth to create institutions through which the economies of the two countries are built, and there will be real cooperation that Egyptian and Algerian youth will touch,” he continued.

He explained that 97% of economic activity in Algeria is based on small and emerging enterprises, whose number does not exceed 10 people, and whose capital does not exceed 20 million Algerian dinars (1 dollar = about 130 dinars) and works in all sectors, especially family enterprises.

He pointed out that there are many areas in which young people in the two countries can cooperate in, such as agriculture, livestock raising, food industries and manufacturing industries, which will contribute to increasing exports between the two countries, which will positively affect trade exchange between the two countries.

"Our role is to support small enterprises and youth to open common markets and increase cooperation between the two countries, especially as Algeria attaches special importance to cooperation with Egypt in all fields," he said.

Dhiyafat noted that his ministry is a new one, and President Abdul Majeed Taboun decided to establish it to support small and emerging enterprises whose owners are usually young people, so he made sure that the ministry was taken over by a young minister.

He stressed that his ministry will seek with the Egyptian embassy to establish an Egyptian-Algerian business council for young people to give owners of small enterprises in the two countries an opportunity to exchange visits and create opportunities for joint economic work, and he promised to facilitate youth obtaining entry visas to Algeria in order to achieve this matter.

The Algerian minister added that he would invite Nevin Gamea, Minister of Trade and Industry, to visit Algeria, and he would also visit Cairo soon to hold joint meetings that would be fruitful and achieve the desired goal.

He called for activating cooperation between the Algerian Agency to support small and emerging enterprises, and the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency in Egypt for the benefit of the economies of the two countries.