Egypt's Minister of Trade and Industry Ahmed Samir has held meetings on the sidelines of his participation in the activities of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in its 26th edition, which was held in St. Petersburg, Russia, from 14-17 June. During the Forum, an intensive series of meetings were held at the bilateral and multilateral levels besides to business meetings. The Minister started his meetings by holding a meeting with Sergei Dankvert Head of the Federal Agency for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Supervision whose activities cover the largest part of Egyptian exports and products to the Russian Federation. They discussed important bilateral issues related to the registration of some Egyptian and Russian companies to enhance trade exchange movement in agricultural commodities, meat and poultry products. Samir also held a meeting with Minister of Trade of the Eurasian Economic Commission Andrey Slepnev. They discussed the developments of the free trade agreement negotiations between Egypt and the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union, which includes Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, with the aim of supporting joint efforts to reach an agreement that suits and takes into account interests of the two parties as well as supports mutual trade movement between Egypt and the countries of the union. With regard to business activities, investment promotion and trade development with the Russian business community, the minister held an extensive meeting with officials of one of the major investment groups with diversified sectoral activity to discuss various opportunities available in the field of joint investment and development of trade and services from both countries. Furthermore, Samir met Minister of Economy of the United Arab Emirates Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, where the UAE is participating as a guest of honor in the 26th edition of the St. Petersburg Forum. During the meeting, they discussed some initiatives to support commercial and investment activity between Egypt and the UAE during the coming period.
