Britain welcomes Egypt’s economic reforms: British Trade Envoy

CAIRO – 30 July 2018: British Trade Envoy to Egypt Jeffrey Donaldson stressed that Britain welcomes the economic reforms in Egypt, and observes success and positive indicators in this regard.

“There is still a lot to do, but what is happening is helping to reduce unemployment and attract investments. This is part of my work to remove obstacles to British investment,” Donaldson said.

He pointed out that Egypt’s interest in education and culture meets Britain’s interest to boost partnership between both countries regarding these files.

The British trade envoy clarified that the goal of the partnership is to help the Egyptian government use technology and digital learning in both fields, noting that they will work on enhancing relationships between public and private sectors.

“We will encourage the cooperation between universities,” Donaldson added.

The trade envoy seeks to attend Egypt Innovate Forum which will be attended by 14 companies. He clarified that his visit to Egypt aims to emphasize the strength of trade relations between the two countries and enhance opportunities for cooperation with the Ministry of Investment.

He added that Britain is the first trade partner for Egypt, stating that 40 percent of the direct investments come from the United Kingdom.

Former Minister of Industry and Foreign trade Tarek Kabil said that the trade exchange between Egypt and Britain recorded £447 million ($593.22 million) during the first quarter of 2018, compared to £414.8 million during the first three months of 2017.

He clarified that trade exchange between the two countries reached £1.86 billion in 2017.

British investments in Egypt are mainly in the sectors of industry, services, construction, tourism, finance, agriculture, telecommunications and information technology, Kabil noted.

Britain is working on enhancing its relationship with other countries in light of Brexit.

Brexit is a combination of two words, “British” and “exit”, and refers to the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union. In June 2016, the British electorate voted to leave the EU with a percentage of 51.9 percent.