An official high-level delegation visited Spain this week to promote economic ties. Mona El-Fiqi follows up on the results Rachid Mohamed Rachid, minister of Trade and Industry, travelled with the largest ever government delegation to Spain on 8 July for a week-long stay, the first official Egyptian visit of its kind for more than a decade. The aim of the is to promote broad political and economic ties between the two countries and attract Spanish investment into Egypt. The delegation also aims to impress upon Spanish companies the considerable benefits offered by Egypt. "Spanish companies relocating to Egypt will be able to take advantage of a deregulated business environment and Egypt's large domestic market, as well as duty free access to most countries in the Middle East and Africa through Egypt's basket of preferential trade agreements," said Rachid. "Spain holds considerable untapped economic potential for Egypt and vice versa. We see Spain becoming a central element in Egypt's trade and investment portfolio over the next five years." At two billion euros in trade in 2006 , Spain is at present Egypt's fourth largest trading partner within the European Union. Egypt's exports last year totalled 1.549 billion euros and imports reached 384 million euros. Spain is the second EU country currently investing in Egyptian free zones. Spanish investments in free zones are estimated at $302 million across such sectors as natural gas, cement, food industries, textiles and tourism. A press release issued by the Ministry of Trade and Industry said that Egypt is striving to boost its non-oil exports to Spain from $465 million in 2006 to $1 billion by the year 2012, driven by growth in exports such as building materials and ready-made garments. Egypt also hopes to boost Spanish investment from the current $372 million to $1 billion over the next five years. Rachid said "We are particularly interested in attracting Spanish investment and know-how into Egyptian manufacturing sectors, especially ready-made garments, textiles and processed food. We are also interested in cooperating with Spain in areas such as renewable energy, infrastructure and finance." During the early days of his visit, Rachid met with Spanish leading government officials including Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism Joan Clos and Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos and signed memoranda of understanding (MOUs) on technology transfer and export financing. Both sides discussed the establishment of the first Spanish industrial zone in Egypt. Representatives of Spanish Zone Franca visited Egypt last week to explore opportunities in this area. A large part of Rachid's stay was dominated by meetings with leading Spanish companies such as the renewable energy firm Union Fenouza and the retailer Corte Ingles. Contracts were signed between Spanish companies and their Egyptian counterparts in the fields of electric cables, processed food products and the quarrying and export of marble. MOUs were signed between Egypt's Technological Development Sector and the Centre for Innovation and Business Development of Catalonia. Rachid noted that "over the past few years Egypt has enjoyed tremendous success with its policy of gearing up trade and investment ties with long-standing strategic partners such as Italy and Turkey. The Spanish economy offers so many exciting opportunities for Egypt. We hope that Spain will be our next big success story."
