Noozz CAIRO: A senior official at the Ministry of Trade and Industry said Russian businesses will be invited to invest in two Egyptian specialized industrial zones for heavy trucks and engineering industries during President Mubarak's next visit to Russia in November. Amr Assal, the chairman of Egypt's Industry Development Authority, said a delegation from the Ministry will present Russian industrial organizations a dossier outlining investment opportunities in the zones. The industrial zones are located on a 2.5 million square meters plot in the 6th of October City, and the Ministry of Trade and Industry is banking on them to boost manufacturing investment in Egypt. Trade between Egypt and Russia amounted to $1.242 billion (LE 7.1 billion) last year. Russia ranked first in the number of incoming tourists to Egypt in 2006 when estimates put them at 1.2 million visitors. Egypt and Russia are currently in talks over a bilateral trade agreement, in line with the 2007-2008 joint plan of action approved by presidents of both countries. The talks are expected to raise concerns that Russian markets have not been readily accessible to Egyptian goods, particularly with the absence of direct transport lines between the two countries. Other obstacles include delayed clearance of Egyptian goods at Russian ports and the lack of direct banking transactions between banks in Egypt and their Russian counterparts.
