Egypt, Saudi Arabia agree to cooperate in several fields

CAIRO – 2 May 2018: Saudi Arabia is interested in participating in Egypt’s LE 200 million sovereign wealth fund, which is currently being established, Trade Minister Tarek Kabil said on Thursday.

This came during the 16th round of the Egyptian-Saudi Joint Committee that was held in the Saudi capital Riyadh over the past three days.

The joint committee's talks wrapped up today, aiming to establish a permanent contact between Cairo and Riyadh to elevate economic cooperation to unprecedented levels, according to Kabil.

During the meetings, the Egyptian and Saudi sides discussed cooperation in various fields, Kabil siad.

In the field of trade and economic cooperation, both sides agreed to eliminate obstacles that stand in the way of developing trade exchange between both states and to swiftly intervene to solve any problems that might occur.

They agreed on holding a meeting between technical experts on issuing the certificate of origin in June in Riyadh as well as holding training programs in Cairo on the rules of origin in light of international trade and economic pacts.

As for investment, Egypt and Saudi Arabia agreed on a cooperation program to enhance investment relations between them as well as exchanging information and technical expertise.

They appointed a communication officer from both sides to be responsible for investment cooperation and work on effective communication between both counties. They also agreed on studying the project suggested by Egypt to build a Saudi industrial zone in the North African country.

Cooperation has also involved the small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with both states agreeing on exchanging trainings and expertise in the field.

Both countries will also discuss the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Saudi Export Development Authority and Egypt’s Export Development Authority (EDA) to facilitate exports between both sides.

As for the financial sector, Egypt requested a permit for the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) and Banque Misr to operate in the Saudi Kingdom.

The two sides have also inked an agreement on customs cooperation.