Egypt and Russia's FTA in store EGYPT and Russia will start negotiating a free trade agreement in 2011. The announcement was made this week by Egyptian Minister of Trade and Industry Rachid Mohamed Rachid during a press conference with his Russian counterpart, Viktor Khristenko. Khristenko was in Egypt along with a large Russian delegation to follow up on the actions of the Egyptian-Russian joint committee which aims at enhancing bilateral relations between both countries. Rachid said he had also agreed with his counterpart on a long-term plan concerning Egypt's imports of wheat from Russia that will include investments in the logistic and storage wheat systems. "We seek to increase the efficiency of our logistic and storage systems of wheat as soon as Russia resumes exporting wheat," Rachid said. In the meantime, the Russian minister of trade and industry said the Russian government has taken some major steps to increase the production of grains after the bad weather conditions Russia faced recently. "Once our production stabilises, we will resume exporting wheat to Egypt immediately," Khristenko said. According to Khristenko, the potential of cooperation between Egypt and Russia lies in the fields of petroleum, renewable energy, information technology, communications, pharmaceuticals, transportation, agriculture and ship building. Khristenko also pointed out that Russia is ready to offer its help to Egypt concerning the use of nuclear power for peaceful purposes. He said Russia will offer several loans to finance energy projects in Egypt. He also stated that economic cooperation between Egypt and Russia is not only based on exchanging commodities, as there are millions of Russian tourists visiting Egypt every year. "Despite the economic crisis, three million Russian tourists visited Egypt this year." African-Turkish relations reinforced THE UNION of African Chambers of Commerce, Agriculture, Industry and Professions (UACCIAP), presided by Egypt, has signed an agreement with Turkey to promote Turkish-African economic and commercial cooperation. The signing took place over the weekend in Alexandria where Abeya El-Bakry attended. Within the framework of the agreement, a Turkey- Africa Chamber (TAC) is to be established with the aim of developing the agreement's objectives in a two-year action plan. The action plan focuses on activating the online directory and business portal for Turkey and UACCIAP member countries, organising annual investment forums starting in spring 2011, and undertaking market research to identify market needs. TAC will also organise quarterly workshops to discuss and diagnose economic changes and market potential. A monthly newsletter will be published in Turkish to notify Turkish investors of developments in the African market. The agreed online directory and business portal is meant to develop and improve the range of services with Turkish Chambers of Commerce (TOBB) and the Turkish Foreign Relations Economic Board (DEIK). The directory will include business information about the requirements for setting up and registering businesses in Turkey and UACCIAP member countries. It will also list recommended agents for company formation in respective states with links for professional commercial service providers, government authorities, as well as market research needs for both parties. Egypt has provided LE4 million towards setting up the online directory and portal. The UACCIAP General Assembly also agreed that Egypt will continue to preside the organisation until December 2011, overseeing the completion of the union headquarters in Cairo, Egypt. Within the same framework, the Arab Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture, affiliated to the Arab League, has also signed cooperation agreements with UACCIAP as well as the Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Interest rates unchanged THE CENTRAL Bank of Egypt's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) last Thursday decided to keep the overnight deposit rate and overnight lending rate unchanged at 8.25 per cent and 9.75 per cent, respectively. The discount rate was also kept unchanged at 8.5 per cent. According to a press release issued by the CBE, the Headline Consumers Products Index (CPI) declined by 0.82 per cent in November following the 1.37 per cent increase in October. Consequently, the Annual inflation rate fell to 10.19 per cent in November from 11.02 per cent in October. A press release by MPC said that "while the supply shortages related to fruits and vegetables in addition to red meat and poultry have largely eased during the past two months, their price increases since the beginning of the year continue to explain more than half of annual headline inflation." In the meantime, core CPI increased by 0.69 per cent in November compared to 0.4 per cent in October, which pushed the annual rate to 8.58 per cent in November from 7.75 per cent in the previous month, mainly driven by the increase in a few non- food prices. "While non-food prices increased by 1.68 per cent and 0.36 per cent in October and November, respectively, these increases have been largely seasonal, associated with the beginning of the school year in October and Eid festivities in November," the press release said. Correction IN AN INTERVIEW with Per Sundelin, marketing director of Tetra Pak Egypt published in Al-Ahram Weekly last week (16-22 December), the Weekly erroneously reported that the company's greatest challenge yet is competing with powdered milk. In fact, the challenge lies in competing with loose milk. Loose milk is unprocessed and unpacked milk. As it is subject to environmental factors and vendors' cheating, studies revealed that loose milk consumption frequently results in numerous and hazardous health complications. The Ministry of Health also recommends packed milk as a safe option, highlighting that packed milk goes through high sterilising production phases and comes from known sources. Packed milk is also distinctive for the UHT technology employed to kill bacteria while retaining all nutritional values and eliminating the usage of preservatives. Tetra Pak is a key player in the National Campaign for Safe Milk and Dairy products, launched in June 2009 by the Ministry of Health in cooperation with the Chamber of Food Industries and Alexandria University. The second phase of the campaign was launched in June 2010 and included a number of educational seminars addressed by experts representing the participating parties. The seminars were widely attended by more than 7,000 ladies. The seminars focussed on changing deeply- rooted beliefs, explaining that boiling loose milk will not eliminate any chemical preservatives such as formalin. Rather, it eliminates the valuable vitamins and nutrients milk is enriched with. The third phase of the National Campaign for Safe Milk and Dairy products was launched this week.
