Canal tariffs unchanged THE SUEZ Canal Authority (SCA) announced on Tuesday that it has decided to keep its tolls unchanged for the second year in a row. According to Ahmed Fadel, chairman of SCA, the canal brought in around $4.3 billion in 2009 compared to almost $5.4 billion the previous year, a 20 per cent drop. He said he is expecting revenues to grow in 2010 by around 2.5 per cent. Some 17,228 ships crossed the canal in 2009 compared to 21,415 in 2008. In 2009 Suez Canal was plagued not only by the slowdown of international trade as a result of the financial crisis but also by the rising threat of piracy. Doubling trade EGYPT and Turkey this week agreed to double the size of trade and investment between them in the next three years to $10 billion and $5 billion respectively. The agreement took place when Turkish Minister of State for Foreign Trade Zafer �aglayan was visiting Cairo this Tuesday. �aglayan met with his counterpart, Egyptian Minister of Trade and Industry Rachid Mohamed Rachid and discussed the means to boost economic cooperation between the two countries to these desired levels. "We are examining the possibility of cancelling the visas between Turkey and Egypt," Rachid said, indicating that this will facilitate the flow of trade and people. Turkey has already cancelled the visas with Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. "We are looking to do the same with Egypt," �aglayan said. Trade and investment between the two countries has witnessed a boom during the past four years. It jumped from less than $1 billion to more than $3 billion this year. "we have a huge number of Turkish companies operating in Egypt and hiring 50,000 Egyptian employees," Rachid revealed. �aglayan pointed out that bilateral trade could reach $10 billion if both countries worked on enhancing their banking systems and increasing the flights between Egypt and Turkey to facilitate transportation and reinforce tourism. He stressed that the free trade agreement signed between Egypt and Turkey in December 2005 and came into force in March 2007 was very fruitful. Bilateral trade between both countries reached $3.03 billion during 2009. Tug-of-war ORASCOM Telecom (OT) and France Telecom (FT) will be holding their breath until 13 February when the Administrative Court makes its final decision on whether or not to approve the decision by the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (EFSA) to accept France Telecom's offer to buy minority shares of the Egyptian Company for Mobile Services (Mobinil) for LE245. Orascom had appealed the EFSA ruling to the Administrative Court which ruled in its favour and suspended the authorisation given by EFSA on 10 December 2009 that allowed France Telecom to launch a formal offer to buy Mobinil shares for a price of LE245. Naguib Sawiris, executive chairman of Orascom Telecom Holding, expressed his delight with the decision and his openness to continue attempting to resolve the dispute amicably, stressing his wish to "pursue our partnership with France Telecom in Mobinil as an operating company." On the other hand, Hisham Alayli, France Telecom vice-president for the Middle East and Africa and the emerging states said in a press statement that France Telecom respects all judicial rulings, but regrets the decision. In his opinion, the decision "prejudices small shareholders' interests". France Telecom believes that LE245 is a fair price. According to a report by HSBC, the target price of Mobinil shares was placed at LE232 on 9 September and LE228 on 9 November. But another valuation carried out by Prime Capital and commissioned by OT showed the fair share price could reach as high as LE373. While acknowledging that negotiations with OT have not ceased, Alyli said that, "France Telecom insists on its right to enforce the international arbitration award and is considering all legal options to preserve its rights." The FT press release said that the Administrative Court has authorised France Telecom to participate in the defence that will be presented by EFSA during the proceedings. A productive concession NEW oil is flowing in Upper Egypt. This week, Dana Gas, the private sector natural gas company, announced that it has discovered a new pool in Al-Baraka 4 well, drilled as an appraisal of Al-Baraka field in Komombo Concession in southern Egypt. The on-stream Al-Baraka 4 well is currently producing at a rate more than five times the sustained flow rate from any previous well in the field. Located 470 metres to the southwest of Al-Baraka 2 well, the new reservoir is proving to be more productive than the currently producing zones, having tested oil with natural flow to surface at a rate of 220 barrels per day. Hany El-Sharqawi, president of Dana Gas Egypt, said in a press release that this is the first well on the concession to flow oil to the surface through the natural energy of the reservoir, without the need for using artificial lift. "The fact that oil has flowed naturally to the surface from a new layer demonstrates that the Komombo basin is more prolific than originally thought," he said. Towards southeast Asia EGYPTIAN Minister of Trade and Industry Rachid Mohamed Rachid returned this week from a tour of Southeast Asia that included Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. In Malaysia Rachid met with the Malaysian Prime Minister Nagib Razak to find ways to boost Egyptian-Malaysian economic and trade ties. His visit to Malaysia aims at getting acquainted with Malaysian know-how in enhancing investment and promoting the internal trade sector and establishing well organised markets. Rachid also co-chaired the first Egyptian-Malaysian Business Council meeting that discussed the means of increasing joint investments in the engineering and food industries. On the second leg of his tour, Rachid discussed with Mari Pangestu, Indonesian trade minister, efforts to increase trade and economic cooperation between the two countries. "We have agreed to jointly study the barriers hindering trade and investment," he said. Rachid revealed that there will be four Egyptian delegations heading to Indonesia this year to market Egyptian commodities in the Indonesian market. "The Indonesian market can be a potential entry point to other southeast Asian countries," Rachid pointed out. Indonesia also considers Egypt as an entry point for Indonesian products to other African and Middle Eastern countries. Moreover, Rachid and Syarifuddin Hassan, Indonesia's minister for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), signed a memorandum of understanding designed to increase trade between SMEs and developing microfinance in both countries. Singapore was the last stop in Rachid's tour. Egypt and Singapore agreed to begin negotiations on a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement next April. This new pact could boost bilateral trade to $3- 5 billion over a five-year period from less than $1 billion currently. Rachid said Singapore could play a very significant role as a hub linking Egypt to some major economies. Meanwhile, the Singaporean trade minister confirmed that Singapore, too, seeks to enhance economic cooperation with Egypt. Singaporean firms are looking to invest in Egypt in areas of logistics, ports, water treatment, healthcare and education, and use this investment as a link to the Middle East, Africa and the Mediterranean.
