CAIRO: Minister of Trade and Industry Rachid Mohamed Rachid began Sunday a one-week visit to Spain - the first official visit of its kind for more than a decade -in a bid to promote bilateral political and economic ties and further boost Spanish investment into Egypt. "Egypt has long enjoyed good political and strategic relations with Spain, but now both sides are ready to give greater emphasis to economic ties between us, the minister said on the eve of his trip. "We want trade and investment to play an ever greater part in our relationship, and we are establishing with the Spanish government a broad framework for cooperation within which our respective companies can do business together, he added. "Spain holds considerable untapped economic potential for Egypt and vice versa. We see Spain becoming a central element in Egypt's trade and investment portfolio over the next five years. Spain is Egypt's fourth largest single trading partner within the European Union. Bilateral trade stood at around 1 billion euros in 2006, with Egypt's overall exports to Spain amounting to 1.549 billion euros and imports to 384 million euros. Egypt is currently striving to augment its non-oil exports to Spain (particularly building materials and ready-made garments) from $465 million in 2006 to $1 billion by the year 2012. Spanish investments in Egypt currently stand at $372 million, across a wide variety of sectors including natural gas, cement, renewable energy, processed food, textiles and ready-made garments, and tourism. Still, Egypt seeks to further attract Spanish investments and aspires to raise that figure to $1 billion over the next five years. "We want to impress upon Spain's companies the considerable benefits offered by Egypt. Spanish companies relocating to Egypt will take advantage of a deregulated business environment with readily available and competitively priced resources of land, skilled labor and energy inputs, explained Rachid. "Spanish companies will enjoy the benefits of Egypt's large domestic market as well as duty free access to most countries in the Middle East and Africa through Egypt's basket of preferential trade agreements. Traveling at the head of a large and prominent delegation of Egyptian companies, Rachid will meet with Spain's leading government officials including Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism Joan Clos as well as with Spain's Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos. During the visit, Rachid and Clos will sign an economic cooperation agreement and a series of MoUs on technology transfer and export financing. "As a signatory of the European Neighborhood Policy, Egypt is strongly committed to promoting the establishment of a Free Trade Area in the Euro-Mediterranean Basin. We believe deeper ties between Egypt and Spain will contribute to this overriding objective, said Rachid. Leading the largest government "road show' to Spain, the minister will visit a number of Spain's leading companies such as energy giants Union Fenouza and Iberdrola, textile and ready made garments manufacturer Inditex, as well as Spain's leading retailer Il Corte Ingles. The second peg of the visit is largely dominated by the investment agenda, whereby the minister will meet the chairmen of Spain's Bank La Caixa, Zona Franca and the Alimentaria Food products fair. A series of protocols will be signed between Spanish companies and their Egyptian counterparts in the fields of electric cables, processed food products, and the manufacturing and export of marble. MoUs will also be signed between Egypt's Technological Development Sector and the Center for Innovation and Business Development of Catalonia (CIDEM). Furthermore, a "sistership agreement will be signed between the port cities of Alexandria and Barcelona, according to a statement by the ministry. Also under discussion during the visit are plans to establish the first Spanish industrial zone in Egypt. Representatives of Spain's Zona Franca visited Egypt last week to explore opportunities in this field. "Over the past few years Egypt has enjoyed tremendous success with its policy of 'gearing up' trade and investment ties with longstanding strategic partners such as Italy and Turkey. The Spanish economy offers so many exciting opportunities for Egypt and we hope that Spain will be our next big success story, Rachid said.
