Egypt's trade exchange with Nile Basin countries has inched up by 32.6 percent year-on-year in 2021, the country's official statistics agency CAPMAS announced on Saturday. Egypt has put cooperation with Nile Basin countries on top of its foreign policy agenda. The Nile Basin countries comprise Egypt, Burundi, DRCongo, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. Since 2013, Egypt has been leading the naval linkage project to set up a naval route connecting Lake Victoria and the Mediterranean Sea through the Nile River. Egypt's exports to Nile Basin countries rose 29.5 percent in 2021 to $1.197 billion compared to 2020, added CAPMAS. Sudan, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, and Tanzania made up 95.1 percent of the Egyptian exports to Nile Basin countries in diminishing order. Egypt's exports to Sudan constitute over half of this value at $827 million. Exports to Kenya made up around a quarter (24.6 percent) at $382 million, and exports to Ethiopia stood at $111 million (7.2 percent). Egypt's top exported products to Nile Basin countries included plastics at $214 million, sugar and confectionary at $165 million, and salt, cement, and bricks at $83 million. Meanwhile, Egypt's imports from Nile Basin countries rose 39.4 percent in 2021 to $783 million from $562 million in 2020. Sudan, Kenya, the Congo, Uganda, and Ethiopia constitute 99.1 percent of the Egyptian imports from Nile Basin countries. Egypt imported mainly coffee, tea, spices, live animals, and brass. Coffee, tea and spice imports from Nile Basin countries recorded $233 million (29.8 percent), while live animal imports reached $213 million (27.2 percent), and imports of brass and its products were $111 million (14.2 percent).
