Russian trade minister visits Egypt for industrial zone

CAIRO – 3 October 2017: Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade Tarek Kabil will meet Russian Minister of Trade Denis Valentinovich Manturov, who is currently visiting Egypt to discuss establishing a Russian industrial zone.

Sources in the ministry told Egypt Today that there is huge progress in negotiations of constructing the Russian industrial zone in the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone).
Egyptian exports to Russia edged up for the first time in three years to record $360 million in the first half (H1) of 2017.

After a decline in exports to Moscow over the past two years, dropping by 16 percent in 2015 and 25 percent in 2016, Russian imports from Egypt hiked 26 percent in the first half of 2017, up from $286 million in the same period of 2016.

The rebound is attributed to the efforts of the Industry Ministry in promoting exports and lifting the export ban on agricultural products and tomatoes, Kabil said in a previous statement.

Russian investments in Egypt amounted to $3.1 billion by the end of 2016, 52 percent of which are in the oil and gas sector, head of the Trade Representation of the Russian Federation in Egypt Aslanov Nikolai said in June.