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Sharm El-Sheikh Agreement may increase Egypt's Africa expos: Assistant Foreign Minister of Madagascar Mozambique, Angola and South Africa refused to sign Conference agenda during meeting's opening session
By Shaimaa Elise and Nehal Mounir The member states of the three main African blocs, COMESA, SADC and the East African Community (EAC), will sign Wednesday the Sharm El-Sheikh Agreement on a free trade zone with Egypt. The agreement is to facilitate trade between African countries. Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs of Madagascar MA Chamarly told Daily News Egypt that Madagascar is interested in Egyptian industries and expos. Chamarly added that an Egyptian expo is held every year for industries such as engineering, home supplies and medicine. "We hope that the agreement contributes to increasing the trade exchange between Egypt and Africa in general, and Madagascar in particular," Chamarly said. "We are looking for increasing expos in Madagascar as our people are interested in Egyptian goods." During the opening session, Mozambique's representative refused to sign the Conference's agenda because of disagreement with some of its provisions. Angola and South Africa also refused to sign the main Conference agenda. Angola's representative cited the agenda's being in English, a language he does not understand well, rather than Portuguese, as the reason for his refusal to sign. Adviser to the Minister of Industry, Ali El-Boos, said the three main African blocs, COMESA, SADC and EAC represent 60% of Africa's GDP. He added that a free trade zone among the three African blocs and Egypt will be launched in 2017. El-Boos said the preparatory meetings held Sunday aimed to identify the recommendations of African Ministers of Industry and Trade participating in the meeting, to get rid of the most important barriers to trade between African countries. This occurs in tandem with solutions to end the procedures of establishing a free trade zone. "What we are doing is trying to end what was previously done in Uganda in October 2008, in which these blocs agreed to discuss establishing a customs union between them," El-Boos said. "In addition to this, they worked on ending negotiations started in Johannesburg in 2011 on the same issue." The interface trade volume between Egypt and African countries in the first quarter of 2015 amounted to EGP 3.5bn. The volume of trade between Egypt and African countries in 2014 amounted to EGP 13.633bn, according to a report by the General Organization for Exports Imports & Control (GOEIC).
