Kazakhstan seeks to raise trade exchange with Egypt to $1B

CAIRO – 8 February 2021: Kazakhstan seeks to raise the rates of trade exchange with Egypt to reach $1 billion during the coming period, according to Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Cairo Khairat Sherif Lama.

Khairat Sharif said that Egypt is a strategic partner for his country in the Middle East and North Africa region, pointing out that Kazakhstan looks at Egypt as a gateway to enter the African market, and there are also great opportunities between the two sides in light of the negotiations to sign a free trade agreement between Egypt and the countries of the European Union, which includes Kazakhstan is in its membership.

He added that the government of the two countries will sign, next year, an agreement to prevent double taxation, which will give more facilities to investors.

"We seek to increase economic and trade cooperation in all fields, especially in the agricultural field, which constitutes about 5 percent of Kazakhstan's gross domestic product, and agricultural lands represent about 30 percent of the country's total area,” he added.

He pointed out that his country is seeking to increase its exports of wheat to the Egyptian market, indicating that Kazakhstan produces about 20 million tons of wheat annually, and is one of the first 10 countries exporting wheat in the world. We also aim to increase our Egyptian imports of fruits such as oranges, bananas and lemons.

Lama pointed out that there are great opportunities for cooperation between the two sides in the field of animal husbandry and fish wealth due to the presence of vast areas of green pastures, as his country is famous for raising cows, sheep and goats. 

“Joint projects could be established between the two countries, based on breeding, slaughtering, processing and exporting meat to Egypt. In addition to benefiting from the Egyptian experience in the field of fish wealth, as Egypt is considered advanced in the field of fish farming,” he noted.

He stressed that his country welcomes all investors and works to solve all the obstacles facing them, as it ranks 16th in Doing Business Index.