The Minister of Trade and Industry Ahmed Samir met with the Greek Ambassador to Egypt Nikolaos Papageorgiou on Tuesday to discuss ways to boost the economic ties between the two countries and to explore the opportunities for increasing trade and investment. According to the minister, the trade exchange between Egypt and Greece reached €2.56bn in 2022, marking a 21% increase from €1.697bn in 2021. He said that the meeting also addressed the investment opportunities for Greek companies that want to enter the Egyptian market through joint or local production and export to the European markets, taking advantage of the competitive advantages and potentials of the Egyptian market. Samir pointed out that the ministry has prepared a list of 152 investment opportunities to produce local supplies for the industrial sector, aiming to enhance the national industry and meet the industrial needs. He added that the ministry has recently sent the list to the Egyptian Commercial Service office in Athens, highlighting the most prominent opportunities for Greek companies, especially in the food industries. The minister assured that the ministry is ready to support the Greek companies operating in Egypt and to help them overcome any challenges they may face, whether related to the ministry or any other concerned party, which would facilitate the investment procedures. He also noted that Greece ranks 11th among the European Union countries in terms of direct investment in Egypt, with investments of $255m in 215 projects in various fields, such as finance, industry, services, construction, tourism, agriculture, communication and information technology. The Greek ambassador, on his part, said that his country is keen to diversify the cooperation areas with Egypt, including clean energy, environment, food, and plastic. He also said that there is a growing interest from Greek companies to invest in the Egyptian market.
