The volume of United Arab Emirates (UAE) investments in the Egyptian market amounted to a total of $6.2bn, according to Tarek Kabil, minister of trade and industry. Kabil said that the volume of these investments reflects the unprecedented desire of UAE investors to enter the Egyptian market. He pointed out that the number of companies investing in Egypt reached 868 companies in the sectors of services, telecommunications, banking, real estate development, tourism, and the ICT sector. According to Kabil, President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi's visit to the UAE opened new horizons for economic trade and investment cooperation between the two countries during the coming period. Kabil added that the visit contributed to reassuring UAE investors about the positive image of the Egyptian economy, in addition to the most important results achieved by the implementation of the Egyptian economic reform programme. He pointed out that the economic reforms implemented by the Egyptian government recently contributed to improving the investment climate and encouraging UAE investors and others to start new investment projects in the Egyptian market. "The volume of trade exchange between Egypt and Dubai last year was $3.28bn, of which $2.397bn Egyptian exports and $883m imports," according to Kabil. He pointed out that the balance of trade between the two countries achieved a surplus in favour of Egypt that amounted to $1.514bn. This comes at a time when figures of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) obtained by Daily News Egypt revealed that the UAE tops Egypt's most important trading partner countries. According to the CBE, the volume of trade exchange between Egypt and the UAE until the end of fiscal year 2016/2017 about $5.851bn, of which $2.9446bn was Egyptian exports to the UAE, and $2.9149bn was imports from the UAE to Egypt. According to Kabil, the most important goods exported to the UAE during the past year include televisions, furniture, electrical cables, agricultural products, monitor screens, aromatic materials, beverages, frozen vegetables, cheese, and charcoal. Egyptian imports from the UAE included pipes, oil, and pharmaceuticals in addition to polypropylene, polyethylene and polyethylene for medical uses, shrimps, iron and steel, and refined sugar. Kabil expressed Egypt's aspiration to stimulate the UAE's major economic entities to inject new investments by strengthening cooperation between the General Authority for the Development of the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) and DP World in developing the region and attracting more investments from Europe to it. According to Kabil, mechanisms are currently being discussed to implement the directives of the crown prince of Abu Dhabi to inject $2bn of new UAE investments into Egypt in a number of development projects. He stressed the importance of concluding the memorandum of understanding on the establishment of an Emirati Egyptian business council as soon as possible. The council's role would be to periodically stimulate the business communities to play an active role in enhancing the level of trade and investment relations between the two countries. Kabil called for intensifying participation in exhibitions and trade markets in both countries to promote products and to enhance the participation of all sectors in the two countries. He stressed the desire of the General Authority for Industrial Development to establish an industrial zone in Egypt in cooperation with the UAE.
