A high level official delegation has visited the United States in an attempt to boost trade relations, Mona El-Fiqi reports Egyptian Minister of Trade and Industry Rachid Mohamed Rachid and members of the Egyptian-US Business Council were on an official visit to the United States this week in a follow- up to the minister's visit to the US in May. During the visit, Rachid met with US officials as well as members of the business community in order to discuss opportunities for cooperation between Egypt and the US as well as the first signs of recovery from the international economic crisis. "The timing of this visit is very important especially since there are signs that the US may have passed the worst of the economic crisis and its economy will rebound," noted Rachid. "Also this is a great opportunity to discuss the findings of the committees that were formed following my visit to the US in May to identify specific ways for Egypt and the US to double their trade and investments over the next four years." The US has long been among the top trading and investment partners in Egypt. During his visit to Washington in May, Rachid and US Trade Representative Ron Kirk signed a memorandum of understanding stating the interest of both countries in doubling trade and investments. Several committees were formed to identify sectors with high potential for cooperation along with possible challenges and ways to address them. Rachid discussed with US officials the findings of these committees that will form the basis of the way forward. Also during the visit, Rachid met with several members of the US business community, including the CEO of Pepsi Company, the CEO of Marsh & McLennan, president of the Bank of New York, senior vice-president of Polo Ralph Lauren, senior vice-president of Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company and the Food Emporium, and the chairman and CEO of Honeywell. Rachid discussed with US business leaders sponsoring a two-week fair for Egyptian food processing exports to help US consumers to know Egyptian products. Also discussed were different methods of marketing Egyptian exports to US markets and how Egyptian products can meet US customer needs. Rachid asserted that Egyptian products are provided at a competitive price since they enjoy the privileges of the Qualified Industrial Zones (QIZ) agreement. As for quality, Rachid added that Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) training programmes to Egyptian exporting companies had commenced in some sectors, such as food processing and textiles, to help upgrade the quality of Egyptian products so they can easily enter the US and European markets. Moreover, Rachid discussed with heads of US companies who already have business in Egypt the possibility of increasing their investments, and suggested investment in labour training. In Washington, Rachid met with Robert Hormats, US under-secretary for economic, energy and agricultural affairs, William Cohen, chairman of the Cohen Group; Gary Locke, secretary at the US Department of Commerce, and US Trade Representative Kirk. The visit was successful, with the two countries' official and private sector representatives expressing hope for trade volume and investment increases. However, Rachid reasserted to US officials Egypt's refusal to sign a free trade agreement at the current time due to US insistence on linking political affairs with trade relations. According to MTI figures, bilateral trade between Egypt and the US reached $8.4 billion in 2008 with Egyptian exports to the US reaching $2.37 billion and imports from the US reaching $6.03 billion. Total US investments in Egypt reached $7.5 billion in 2008. Despite governmental efforts exerted to enhance trade relations with the US and to boost exports, Egyptian exporters remain unsatisfied with Egypt's exports volume. An exporter in the food processing sector who preferred to remain anonymous complained that as far as agreements already signed with the US -- namely the QIZ and the Generalised System Preferences -- are concerned, only a few large Egyptian companies are able to meet their requirements and enter the US market duty free. The majority of companies cannot enjoy free entry and face many problems when exporting to the US.
