Egypt and Uzbekistan are studying establishing a joint business council to provide and study investment opportunities between the two countries, besides establishing joint companies to review the trade exchange between the two sides, according to Egyptian Minister of Industry and Trade Tarek Kabil. Kabil met the ambassador of Uzbekistan to Egypt, Oybek Usmanov, on Sunday to promote trade and economic relations between Egypt and Uzbekistan. Kabil said the trade exchange between the two countries only registered about $1.5m, which doesn't reflect the capabilities of the two countries. In this regard, the minister called on Uzbek investors and businesspeople to invest in the Egyptian market to improve the bilateral investment between both countries. Uzbekistan is ranked 111th in terms of the volume of its investments in Egypt, with a total of 13 companies with a capital of $670,000, according to Kabil. The minister noted that Uzbek investors can benefit from the large incentive packages offered by the Egyptian government to foreign investors, benefitting from the network of free-trade agreements between Egypt and a large number of countries and major economic blocs in the world. This provides a promising market of more than 1.8 billion consumers of products manufactured in the Egyptian market. For his part, the Uzbek ambassador expressed his country's keenness to strengthen economic cooperation with Egypt as one of the most important countries in the Middle East and Africa.
Kabil pointed out that it is important to increase trade missions between the two sides and intensify the participation in the specialized international exhibitions organized by Egypt, as well as the various exhibitions held in Uzbekistan to inform the Uzbek business community of the various types of Egyptian products available for export. He noted that Egypt is fully prepared to meet the needs of the Uzbek market with different products, especially those in which Egypt has a competitive edge, such as medicines, food products, agricultural crops, and chemical products needed by the Uzbek market.
