Minister of Trade and Industry Tarek Kabil and Portuguese Minister of State for Globalisation Wrico Dias adopted the final form of the Egyptian-Portuguese Business Council. "Egypt and Portugal have strategic political and economic relations in all fields," Kabil said. "President Al-Sisi's visit to Portugal in 2016 paved the way for the start of a new phase of distinguished bilateral relations between the two countries during the coming period." Kabil pointed out that there are huge opportunities for cooperation between Egypt and Portugal, particularly in the fields of leather and textiles, Suez Canal Development Project—a project of 1.5 million feddans—as well as, the fields of automotive industry, furniture, machinery and equipment, communications and information technology, renewable energy and infrastructure, food products, distribution and logistics, agriculture, and construction. The Minister noted that the Egyptian government has established the largest leather city in the Middle East, which is a promising opportunity for Portuguese businessmen to invest in this field. The volume of trade exchange between Egypt and Portugal rose during the last year to reach €218m, compared to €192.57m in 2016.The main Egyptian exports to Portugal are leather, steel, cotton, plastic, fertilisers and sugar while the main Egyptian imports from Portugal are paper, petroleum, furniture products, and industrial equipment according to Kabil. With regard to Portuguese investments in Egypt, the minister explained that the total value of the investments amounted to $404,7m, with $2m contribution in the ICT sectors, ready-made clothes, and new and renewable energy. For his part, Portuguese Minister Wrico Dias said that his visit to Cairo comes as a run-up to the visit of the Portuguese President to Cairo during the first half of the current year, which aims to strengthen the political and economic relations between Egypt and Portugal during the next stage. Dias added that during his visit he reviewed important investment opportunities in Egypt especially in the leather industry where Portugal is one of the largest importers of leather products in the world.
