ExpoLink expands operations to Kenya, Ghana to support exports

CAIRO – 19 September 2017: The Egyptian Exports Association (ExpoLink) has inaugurated a logistics hub in Kenya’s Nairobi to promote local exports in Africa, and will open another hub in Ghana, Head of the Association Khaled El Mekati said Tuesday.

Talking about export-led industries at a panel about industrialization and exports during the Euromoney Egypt Conference’s second day, Mekati said that majority of the exports are in the food and agriculture industries.

“We are extremely weak in our exports to Africa as Egyptian exports recorded $4 billion from a total trade volume of $400 billion in Africa,” Mekati said, adding that Egypt’s presence in East Europe and Latin America is strong, “around 80 percent of exports to Russia are food products,” he said.

At the same panel, Sherine El Sabagh, head of the Policy Unit at Ministry of Industry and Foreign Trade, said that the government targets increasing involvement of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to 10 percent of GDP.

Commenting about the deficit in the trade balance, Sabagh said the deficit has decreased, “we cannot go down further than this as Egypt has essential imports,” she said.

The government has a strategy to boost exports over the next five years to help generate more dollarized revenues for the treasury, CEO of the Export Development Authority (EDA) Sherine El Shorbagi said.