A visit by Egypt's President Abdelfatah Al-Sisi to Kuwait on Monday is expected to give an impetus to bilateral ties, economic, trade and investment in particular, as Kuwaiti non-petroleum exports to Cairo more than doubled during the third quarter of 2014, compared to the corresponding period in 2013. Non-petroleum exports to Egypt jumped by 110 percent in Q3 in 2014, ranking second in terms of growth after a 245.1 percent rise in exports to Brazil, according to data by Kuwait's Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Statistics on the three months reveal noticeable increase in bilateral trade, as Egypt ranked 15th biggest importer from Kuwait, receiving non-petroleum products worth KD 5.2 million. Over the same period, Egypt ranked 18 amid the word countries exporting to Kuwait with KD 29.5 million. Kuwait has always been eager on supporting the Egyptian economy. The Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) has offered Egypt 38 loans for financing projects in various sectors, with a total amount of approximately KD 661.58 million (USD 2.309 billion). It also provided nine grants and technical assistance allocations totaling KD 1.97 million which financed technical and economic feasibility studies for several projects and other activities in the country. In addition, KFAED has administered two grants of KD 4.8 million for the construction of schools that were affected by the earthquake in 1992, and for the reconstruction of some villages that were damaged by floods in 1995. The two Arab countries are bound by many economic agreements, the first of which was signed in 1964. In 1998, they signed an economic and technical cooperation accord, renewed in December 2012 to cover all trade and industrial fields, standard specifications, quality monitoring and small and medium sized projects (SMEs), as well encouraging the private sector and investments. Last year, Egypt and Kuwait signed an agreement for enhancing trade and industrial ties, and a MoU for cooperation in exhibitions and conferences. In November, up to 35 Egyptian firms took part in a special wide scale event held here on real state at home. Kuwait is the third biggest Arab investor in Egypt with up to LE 12 billion (KD 492.4 million). This is about 25 percent of Arab investments in the country. Kuwaiti investments focus on industry, tourism, communications, construction and charity. Source: Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)
