Boosting trade ON 9 FEBRUARY, Rachid Mohamed Rachid, minister of trade and industry, met with Hungary's prime minister, Gordon Bajnai, during his official visit to Cairo. The meeting took place as part of an Egyptian-Hungarian business forum during which more than 100 members of the business communities of Egypt and Hungary listened to plans of the two countries to expand bilateral trade and investment. The officials highlighted the fact that the current economic crisis has driven both governments to identify untraditional markets that can lead to growth of both investment and trade. While trade and investment between Egypt and Hungary are humble, both Bajnai and Rachid underlined that bilateral prioritisation will mean an increase in both the volume of trade and investment. According to figures of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, bilateral trade between Egypt and Hungary reached 85.91 million Euros in the period between January and November of 2009, with Egyptian exports to Hungary reaching 5.53 million Euros and imports from Hungary reaching 80.38 million Euros. Moreover, total cumulative Hungarian investment in Egypt in the period 1970-2009 amounted to LE28.55 million. The main sectors in which Hungarian companies invest in Egypt are tourism, industry, services, construction and agriculture. Safe ground LAST week, Fayza Abul-Naga, minister of state for international cooperation, announced in a press conference that Egypt is expected to stop receiving foreign economic assistance after 10 years. According to Abul-Naga, foreign assistance to any country should be for a limited period only, and not for good. After 10 years, however, Abul-Naga added, Egypt can retain foreign assistance in the human development sector, such as cooperating with countries in technological and educational research. As for Egypt's foreign debts, Abul-Naga asserted that they remain at safe levels. According to international economic criteria, foreign debt starts to be dangerous when it reaches 30 per cent of total GDP. "For the past five years, Egypt succeeded to keep its foreign debts around 16 to 17 per cent of its GDP," Abul-Naga said. This explains the praise the World Bank bestowed on Egypt's recent policy in dealing with its debts. According to Abul-Naga, the ceiling of debts was raised from $1 billion to $3 billion, based on Egypt's ability to pay back annually. To lighten the burden on the government's budget, Abul-Naga explained, the majority of loans are directed to finance projects that are able to repay loans by themselves, such as giant power stations and ports. The total foreign economic assistance provided to Egypt during 2001 to 2009 was $16.3 billion, of which $6 billion was in the form of grants and $10.3 billion as loans. As for US annual economic assistance to Egypt, Abul-Naga said it was raised from $200 million in 2009 to $250 million in 2010 and 2011.
