CAIRO: Minister of Trade and Industry Rachid Mohamed Rachid concluded a visit to Switzerland where he met his counterpart Federal Councilor Doris Leuthard, the head of the Swiss Federal Department of Economic Affairs, according to a ministry statement. During the two-day visit, Rachid also met members of the private sector to explore ways to expand bilateral economic cooperation between Switzerland and Egypt. "Our economic cooperation has been limited, which to me always spells out opportunities for further growth, said Rachid in the statement, adding that Egypt has "identified Switzerland as one of our priority markets for the upcoming few years. Egypt was recognized as one of the top seven markets globally where Switzerland will look to enhance economic cooperation, and this will entail providing training and knowledge transfer in sectors such as agriculture, food production as well as spinning and weaving. The volume of Egyptian exports to Switzerland has increased almost three-fold in the past year due to a jump in exports of petroleum products. Bilateral trade between the two nations from January to August of 2009 reached $595 million with Egypt's exports to Switzerland reaching $77 million and Egypt's imports from Switzerland reaching $518 million. In 2008, bilateral trade between Egypt and Switzerland reached $560 million. Egyptian imports from Switzerland came in at $534 million while exports reached $26 million. "One of the main purposes of this trip is to identify sectors that have high potential for either trade or industrial cooperation for the business communities in both Egypt and Switzerland. The two countries will also cooperate on developing Egypt's intellectual property rights to encourage Swiss investment in the North African nation as well as renewable energy production, namely wind and solar energy. In 2007, Egypt signed a free trade agreement with member countries of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), of which Switzerland is a member. In the past three years, bilateral trade between the two nations reached $500 million, and Rachid hopes that the FTA will help propel trade and industrial cooperation. Under the agreement, Egypt's industrial products, both industrial and agricultural, are exempt from customs- and quota-duties effective when entering EFTA markets, which include Switzerland, Norway, Lichtenstein and Iceland. Industrial products manufactured in EFTA countries gain customs- and quota-free access to the Egyptian market by the year 2020. Rachid met with Federal Councilor Leuthard in Bern on Monday and co-chaired the Egypt-Switzerland Business Forum which included business match-making meetings. The minister also met the CEO of pharmaceutical giant Novartis, the CEO of Phillip Morris International and the CEOs of Geberit International, Franke, Alba Group. -Daily News Egypt
