WASHINGTON: The United States is eager to expand trade with Egypt to help the world's most populous Arab country complete its transition to democracy, a top US trade official said on Monday. "The United States greatly values its economic relationship with Egypt, which is a key strategic partner," Deputy US Trade Representative Miriam Sapiro said in a statement after a meeting near in Jordan with Egyptian Minister of Industry and Trade Mahmoud Eisa. "With this first high-level meeting with Minister Eisa, we are advancing our work together to overcome obstacles to increased trade and investment and to pursue actions to improve regional economic integration," Sapiro said. Eisa will visit Washington next month for further talks, said Sapiro, who has played a key role in shaping the US economic response to the events of the "Arab Spring." Two-way goods trade between the United States and Egypt increased more than 30 percent in 2010 to $9.1 billion, while US investment in Egypt rose 28.4 percent to $11.7 billion. Trade has remained mostly steady this year, totaling $6 billion through the first eight months, despite mass protests in Tahir Square in January and February that led longtime Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak to resign as president. US President Barack Obama in May outline a new trade and investment partnership initiative to respond to the rapid transformation underway in the Arab world. Sapiro has previously said the initiative would encompass the entire Middle East and North Africa region, with an emphasis on Egypt and Tunisia where visible progress could bolster democratic change and economic reforms elsewhere. "Libya too will be important as the situation there stabilizes," Sapiro said in a speech in September. One goal of the Obama initiative is to construct a regional free trade arrangement among Middle East and North African countries willing to adopt high standards of reform and trade liberalization, she said in that speech.
