CAIRO – 3 August 2023: Egypt and Turkey have proposed signing an MoU on issues of industrial cooperation in a meeting between their industry ministers in Ankara, the Egyptian Ministry of Trade and Industry said in a statement on Thursday.
The MoU should include exchanging technical expertise and providing technical training, pre-university and university education, industrial investment and agricultural manufacturing.
During the meeting, Egypt’s Minister of Trade and Industry Ahmed Samir stressed the need for setting a joint five-year industrial cooperation plan to activate the two sides’ efforts with regard to food industries, pharmaceuticals, and electric batteries production.
The activation plan aims to contribute to fulfilling the needs of both the Egyptian and Turkish markets and ensures exportation to the African states’ markets within the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement, Samir explained.
Samir also stressed the need for benefiting from the Turkish industrial experience and working to re-run the Ro-Ro line between Egypt and Turkey to facilitate the inter-trade system.
The Egyptian minister highlighted the possibility of establishing a working group that includes officials of the two ministries to enhance cooperation and coordination in fields of common interest.
For his part, Turkish Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır welcomed the proposal, calling for including authorities concerned with export and import control in the two countries within the proposed working group.
The two sides discussed the possibility of developing a joint plan that extends until June 2024 to include priority sectors and areas for joint cooperation, especially furniture, carpets and chemical industries.
Samir invited Kacır to visit Cairo soon to follow up on the results of this visit and to review future cooperation files and projects between the two countries.
Kacır affirmed Turkey’s keenness to strengthen cooperation with Egypt in various fields, noting that the Egyptian delegation’s visit to Ankara paves the way for the start of a new phase of economic cooperation between the two countries.
Samir has paid an official visit to Turkey, the first by an Egyptian trade minister in 10 years.
Earlier in his visit, Samir affirmed that Egypt aspires to develop trade relations with Turkey and increase trade volume to $15 billion over the next five years.
Trade exchange between Egypt and Turkey amounted to $7 billion for the first time in 2022, Samir said on Wednesday.
More than 790 Turkish companies are investing in Egypt with estimated investment value of $2.5 billion in addition to new $400 million investment that were added in 2020, Samir said.
Turkish investments in Egypt cover the sectors of cosmetics, chemical industries, furniture industry, food manufacturing and engineering industries, the minister added.
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