Trade Exchange bet. Egypt, Poland reaches $418M in 2017

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Mon, 02 Jul 2018 - 10:49 GMT

BY

Mon, 02 Jul 2018 - 10:49 GMT

A bank employee counts U.S. Dollar notes – REUTERS

A bank employee counts U.S. Dollar notes – REUTERS

CAIRO – 2 July 2018: Trade Exchange between Egypt and Poland hit $418 million in 2017, according to Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade Amr Nassar.

This came during a meeting held by the minister on Monday with Polish Minister of Investment and Development, Jerzy Kuczynski, on the future of economic relations between the two countries and the efforts of the Egyptian and Polish governments to develop and expand the volume of joint relations between the two sides.

The meeting was attended by Head of the Egyptian Commercial Service Ahmed Antar, the chairman of the Commercial Representation Authority, Head of the Trade Agreements and Foreign Trade Sector Amany al-Wasal, Ambassador of Poland in Cairo Mikhail Morcuchinsky, and President of the Egyptian Trade Office in Poland Abdel Aziz al-Sherif.

The minister clarified that the Egyptian exports reached $143 million in 2017, compared to $125.6 million in 2016, with an increase of 13 percent.

According to the minister, this rise in exports marked the highest increase percentage in the history of trade between the two states.

The Egyptian imports decreased 26 percent, recording $276 million, compared to $373 million in 2016, Nassar noted.

The minister referred to the importance of increasing the Polish investments in the Egyptian market during the coming period, especially in light of the great efforts exerted by the Egyptian Ministry of Investment to improve the business climate in Egypt.

“The most important Polish investments in Egypt are concentrated in the sectors of tourism, industry, construction, communications and services,” according to the minister.

For his part, the Polish minister of investment and development stressed his country's keenness to strengthen the economic cooperation with Egypt as one of the pivotal countries in the Middle East and Africa that plays a key role in stabilizing this vital region.

Kuchinsky said that his country is implementing an ambitious plan to upgrade the Polish economy, which has witnessed a big boom over the past years, placing itself among the fastest growing economies in Europe.

He emphasized the importance of maximizing the benefit of the great potential available to both countries to expand the volume of economic and investment relations during the next phase.

In March, Executive Vice President of the Polish Investment and Trade Agency Wojciech Fedko visited Egypt to explore investment opportunities.

During his visit, Fedko met officials of the Egyptian Businessmen’s Association (EBA) to discuss the establishment of the Polish Agency’s branch in Egypt and the construction of an industrial zone at the Suez Canal corridor area.

Executive Manager of Egyptian Businessmen’s Association Mohamed Youssef said that Fedko emphasized Polish interest in investing in Egypt, and that it will construct a branch of its agency here.

Youssef added that Poland seeks to negotiate with the Egyptian government to build an industrial zone at the Suez Canal corridor area to use it to transfer a number of advanced industries in Poland; such as the manufacture of automotive parts, chemicals, waste recycling, and railways, in order to meet local needs and export to neighboring African markets.

This visit came after a Polish delegation had visited Egypt in February and met around 60 businessmen, Minister of Investment Sahar Nasr and Minister of Industry Tarek Kabil.

Lately, Egypt has started to work on attracting foreign investment and followed it with economic and legal reforms, which included a new investment law and the establishment of investors' centers.

The new investment law provides investors with several incentives and treats men, women, Egyptian and foreign investors equally.

The law also stipulates that foreign employees should not exceed 20 percent of the total number of workers in the projects established by non-Egyptian investors.

Investors’ Centers provide services to aid in the procedures of establishing a firm, its contract, documentation, licensing and commercial registration.

They also respond to investors’ inquiries about electronic establishment of companies, investment opportunities in different governorates, free zones and settlement measures of investment disputes.

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