CAIRO: Egypt and Spain agreed to launch a study to create a new maritime shipping line between Alexandria and Taragona, with the objective of boosting trade between both countries. Egyptian Minister of Trade and Industry Rachid Mohamed Rachid and Spanish Minister of State for Trade Silvia Iranzo met on May 11 to discuss how both countries can increase trade. The trade that would be created through this deal would help to further commercially serve the eastern part of the Mediterranean as well as the rest of Africa. Rachid said that this move would increase the competitiveness of Egyptian products. Khaled Abubakr, president of the Egyptian-Spanish Council and CEO of Taqa Arabia — a unit of the private- equity firm Citadel Capital — explained in a telephone interview, “The process was initiated by the Egyptian Ministry of Trade about 2.5 years ago so as to identify how to enhance trade between both countries.” However, last April things finally began to solidify: representatives from the Egyptian Ministry of Trade accompanied by representatives from the Chamber of Commerce of Alexandria went to Barcelona to explore opportunities to increase business opportunities between Egypt and Spain, Abubakr said. In the end, it was decided to collaborate with the Port Authority of Taragona — within a stone's throw of Barcelona, and still within the Spanish region, Catalonia — as the port in Barcelona is running at full capacity and is, therefore, unable to provide its services to this particular project. Moreover, as Abubakr stressed, “The Port Authority of Taragona is offering its services at a much cheaper price than their competitors in Barcelona, as well as promising to be able to move shipments at a faster rate.” He stated that a meeting is planned for June between both the Port Authority of Taragona and the Port Authority of Alexandria to sign a memorandum of understanding for the proposed project. It is still unknown exactly when this plan will be up and running, Abubakr confirmed. When asked by how much trade would be boosted by this proposed project, Abubakr said that there were no concrete figures available, as the plan is still very much in its infancy. However, “there is a huge amount of interest from the business community in both Egypt and Spain for this deal,” he affirmed. He mentioned that Spanish firms, such as Zona Franca, are particularly interested in this deal, since on the one hand, the economic downturn in Europe and on the other, they feel that there is serious business potential for investment and development projects in Egypt. Not only will this deal help drive revenue for the business sector, but the plan will help create new jobs indirectly in the area around Alexandria through infrastructure projects and human resources needed to realize the project. At a meeting held at the Egyptian-Spanish Business Forum, both Egyptian and Spanish ministers also agreed to boost economic trade in the areas of food industries, textiles, ready-made garments, medicine, leather, and infrastructure and energy projects. In particular, energy is high on the Egyptian government's agenda, as it is seeking to diversity the production of energy by ensuring that 20 percent of the country's energy needs are obtained from renewable sources by 2020.
