Trade exchange bet. Qatar, Egypt hikes 50% in 2021

CAIRO - 16 October 2022: Trade exchange between Qatar and Egypt increased 50 percent in 2021, according to the Chairman of Qatar Chamber of Commerce & Industry (QCCI) Khalifa Bin Jassim Bin Mohammed Al Thani.

 

The Chairman of the Qatar Chamber explained the role of the private sector in the two countries in pushing trade and economic relations forward, as this contributed to boosting trade exchange, which amounted to 239 million riyals, compared to 159 million riyals in 2020.

 

Al Thani stressed the good relations between the two chambers of Qatar and Alexandria.

 

This came in his statements, on Saturday, on the sidelines of the Alexandria Chamber’s celebration marking the 100th anniversary of its establishment as the first chamber of commerce in Egypt, the Arab and African region, 

 

He referred to the close cooperation between the two parties through the distinguished relations between Qatar Chamber and the Federation of Egyptian Chambers, as well as through joint coordination within their membership in the Federation of Arab Chambers.

 

In September, a study issued by the Egyptian Center for Thought and Strategic Studies said that the trade exchange between Egypt and Qatar, according to data from the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics, increased to $44.8 million during 2021, compared to $25.4 million in 2020.

 

"One of the files of rapprochement between the two countries is the Egyptian labor case in Qatar, which is estimated at a number of 350,000 workers, and the value of their remittances amounted to $1.34 billion in 2020," the study added.

 

The study indicated that the energy sector is one of the most prominent areas of cooperation between both states, in light of the regional position that Egypt seeks to achieve as a regional energy hub, and the Qatari capabilities in this regard as the largest exporter of liquefied gas in the world.

 

Qatari investments in the Egyptian energy sector grew through Qatar Energy Company signing an agreement with Shell, according to which it acquired a 17 percent stake in each of the two concessions (Block 3 and Block 4) managed by Shell in the Red Sea region. 

 

In March 2022, the company acquired also holds a 40 percent stake in an exploration area managed by ExxonMobil in the Mediterranean.