CAIRO: The volume of trade exchange between Egypt and the United States during the first quarter of 2010 increased by 100 percent, reaching $2.24 billion dollars compared to $1.03 billion the previous quarter. The Egyptian trade deficit also witnessed a decrease by 9.5 percent to reach $840.6 million compared to $929 million during the same period last year as a result of increasing the volume of Egyptian exports to the United States by 55 percent during the first quarter of 2010. The total Egyptian exports to the US amounted to $700 million compared to $452 million during the same period of 2009, the ministry of trade and industry reported in a statement on June 18. The numbers came during a report received by Engineer Rashid Mohamed Rashid, Minister of Commerce Industry and Trade from the Trade Representative's office in Washington D.C, concerning trade exchange with the US. Rashid said in a statement that despite the global economic crisis and intense competition in the markets that the indices of Egyptian exports during the first quarter in 2010, “came positive in a steady increase in most markets, which confirms the increase in the competitiveness of Egyptian products during the current year,” pointing out that this comes “within the framework of the national strategy to double exports to £E200 billion by the year 2013, where 2010 is the first year in the implementation of the strategy.” He explained that the ministry is continuing to provide support to different sectors of export in accordance with the new system, which will work accordingly by the beginning of next July. For his part, Mamdouh Mustafa, head of the Trade Representation Agency said that the “trading value of non-petroleum exports rose by 26.8 percent, reaching $357 million compared to $281.5 during the same period in 2009 and the value of petroleum exports during the same the period of 2010 increased by 101 percent to reach $534.2 million compared to $170 million during the same period in 2009.” Rashid said that exports in the framework of QIZ Protocol increased by 13.2 percent, reaching $267 million during the first quarter of 2010, compared with $236 million during the same period in 2009, while “Egyptian exports under the Generalized System of the advantages/GSB decreased by 2.13 percent to reach $12 million during the first quarter of this year, compared with $7.13 million during the same period in 2009.” He added that the Egyptian imports from the United States rose by 11.5 percent, where the Egyptian imports during the period amounted to $1.54 billion, compared to $1.381 billion during the same period in 2009, pointing out that Egypt “is ranked among the top 32 importing countries from the United States.” He added that the most important Egyptian exports to the United States were mineral fuels, clothing, accessories, fertilizers, carpets, textiles and works of art, aluminum, vegetables and fruit, furniture, cement, salt, marble and paper. He said that the Egyptian imports from the United States included grain, nuclear reactors, mineral fuels, iron and steel, cereals, oilseeds, aircraft, cars and electrical appliances, plastic products, weapons, ammunition and photography equipment, dairy products and meat. BM
