Egypt's Minister of Trade and Industry Ahmed Samir received Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Alkhorayef and his accompanying delegation at the Ministry's headquarters in the New Administrative Capital. The two ministers held a bilateral meeting that dealt with all aspects of economic cooperation between Egypt and the Saudi Kingdom, and discussed ways to enhance cooperation between the two countries in fields of trade, industry and investment. The meeting also dealt with developments in the global economic situation and negative repercussions resulting from the global economic crisis, as well as a number of issues of common interest. Samir said that the trade exchange rates between the two countries amounted to $5.66bn in 2022, compared to $4.57bn in 2021, achieving an increase of 23.9%. The minister added that Saudi investments in Egypt exceed $6bn in the sectors of industry and construction, tourism, agriculture, services, finance, communications and information technology. Meanwhile, Egyptian investments in Saudi Arabia amount to about $1.4bn in the sectors of industry, energy, water, health, retail trade, e-commerce, petrochemicals, oil and gas, tourism, communications, information technology, transportation, logistics, mining and engineering services. Samir explained that the meeting tackled opportunities and elements of industrial integration between the two countries, developments in the national strategy for industry, defining cooperation targets and implementation mechanisms, and identifying industrial projects to start industrial cooperation in these projects. The minister pointed out that the recent period witnessed intensive visits between Cairo and Riyadh between the Egyptian and Saudi sides with the aim of coordination and consultation on achieving joint industrial integration based on the industrial strategies of both countries. He further explained that the meeting highlighted the importance of finding a joint working mechanism for cooperation in the field of mineral wealth, especially minerals, heavy metals and sands of economic value, and activating the system of accumulating rules of origin between the two countries and access to regional and global markets. Additionally, the meeting dealt with opportunities for cooperation in the petrochemical industry to meet needs of the local market and export to foreign markets. For his part, Alkhorayef affirmed his country's keenness to strengthen bonds of joint cooperation with Egypt in various fields and at all levels, pointing out that the two countries have great economic opportunities that qualify them to be an active player in the global economy system. He highlighted the Kingdom's keenness to benefit from Egyptian expertise and experiences in many industrial sectors, especially automobile and pharmaceutical industries. The two ministers witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Egyptian Export Development Authority and the Saudi Export Development Authority regarding enhancing cooperation between the two sides in field of developing non-oil exports, and a memorandum of understanding between Value Egypt and the National Center for Industrial Development in field of developing automotive industry.
