A British business delegation of 22 companies will visit Egypt from 10-13 February to enhance trade relations, member of the Egyptian-British Chamber of Commerce Ali Eissa said Saturday. The delegation, which will be headed by UK Trade Envoy to Egypt Jeffrey Donaldson, will look into the formation of a tripartite alliance between Egypt, China and the UK to enter the African market, according to Eissa. Eissa said that Britain is seeking to offset its departure from the European Union (EU) through building new alliances, including an alliance with Egypt and China, in which it will benefit from Egypt as a gateway for the African market and from China's strong presence in the continent. The delegation's agenda will include a number of bilateral meetings with many public and private sector associations, Eissa said, stressing on the importance of the visit to attract foreign investments to Egypt in light of the improved business climate. The UK has voted to leave the EU in a referendum that was held in June 2016. It is scheduled to depart the union by 2019. Since then, the UK has been looking into building new trade alliances to mitigate the negative effects of its departure from the EU. A similar delegation, also headed by Donaldson, has visited Egypt in September 2017 to explore new investment opportunities in the key sectors of infrastructure, agriculture, healthcare, and defence. Also, a delegation from United Kingdom's development finance institution, CDC Group, and its subsidiary Globeleq arrived in Egypt this month to explore new investment opportunities and potential areas of increased cooperation with Egyptian ministries and companies, according to a statement from the British Embassy in Cairo. UK Ambassador to Egypt John Casson was quoted in the statement as saying that 2018 will bring a new British wave of job-creating investments in a range of sectors. Casson said that British investors are expanding their work in Egypt and finding new opportunities to invest, adding that this decade alone, UK companies have invested $43 billion in Egypt. Britain is one of the big investors in Egypt, with investments worth $30.5 billion since 2011 in the fields of financial services, energy, construction, tourism, textiles, communications and information technology. There are 1,350 British companies in Egypt. Source: Egypt today
