Egypt is keen on enhancing bilateral trade ties with Pakistan as to export high quality products to each other at competitive prices, Ambassador of Egypt to Pakistan Tarek Mohamed Hussein Dahroug said on Wednesday. Dahroug made these remarks ring his visit to the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He was accompanied by Deputy Head of Mission Ibrahim Said Abdelrahim Ibrahim. The Egyptian envoy said he was quite ambitious and ready to go the extra mileto promote trade relations between Egypt and Pakistan as it would bring more beneficial results for the economies of both countries. By enhancing trade cooperation with Egypt, Pakistan could get easy access to many markets of African countries including Libya, Morocco, Sudan, and Algeria, the envoy added. Pakistan and Egypt should focus on promoting direct exports that would be more competitive in terms of prices for each other. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed long time ago for Pak-Egypt Business Council, but no progress was made and urged that both countries should make target oriented efforts to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes. Muhammad Ahmed Waheed, president of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the two countries enjoyed historically cordial and friendly relations that should be transformed into growing trade and economic relations. Pak-Egypt bilateral trade in 2017 was just around $154 million, which was far less given the market size of both countries and urged that both sides should focus on developing strong linkages between their private sectors in order to explore all untapped areas of trade promotion, Waheed added. Pakistan could export many products to Egypt including rice, marble, engineering goods, agro-processed products, surgical instruments, pharmaceuticals, and sports goods, he said. The two countries have good potential to cooperate in many areas including agricultural products, engineering goods like electrical apparatuses and power appliances, construction and building material, tourism, shipping, fertilizers, chemicals, textiles products, leather goods, medical and surgical items, and pharmaceuticals. Many Pakistani products were entering the Egyptian market through third country labels and urged that the Pakistan government should cooperate with its private sector in promoting Made in Pakistan brands in Egypt to realize better results. Pakistan and Egypt should consider signing a free trade agreement that would remove hurdles and boost trade between the two countries.
