CAIRO: Egyptian and Turkish businessmen have agreed to double efforts to increase the volume of trade exchange between the two countries during the next phase, from $3 billion currently to $10 billion. This came during a meeting of the delegation of the Turkish Association of Industrialists of Ankara on a visit to Cairo under the chairmanship of Altontac Shaheen, head of delegation, and the presence of the Turkish Ambassador to Egypt, Huseyin Avni Botsaly, with members of the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Commerce in Cairo under the chairmanship of Ibrahim al-Arabi. Al-Arabi said the volume of trade exchange between Egypt and Turkey has witnessed great strides in recent years, rising from about one billion dollars in 2005 to more than $3 billion last year, and that Turkish investments also increased and reached more than one billion dollars. He explained that greater trade and investment cooperation between Turkey and Egypt paved the way for a historic agreement establishing a strategic partnership between the two countries, which recently announced the culmination of several cooperation agreements. Most notably, an agreement on the liberalization of trade entering its fifth year, as it was signed at the end of December 2005. Al-Arabi noted that Egypt enjoys the advantages of a number of economic conditions for attracting investments, including the existence of an integrated system of free trade agreements between Egypt and the most important economic blocs in the world: the European Union, COMESA and Arab countries, and MERCOSUR, which includes Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. Al-Arabi said these agreements were accompanied by a significant growth in the volume of GDP of over 7 percent before the outbreak of the global financial crisis last year. Despite the crisis, Egypt has succeeded in achieving a positive growth rate, a feat achieved by only three countries in the world. He added that Egypt currently has an industrial base that stretches across more than 87 industrial zones in various parts of Egypt, containing more than 3 industrial zones administered by Turkish companies and includes Turkish investments increasing day by day. BM
