Staff report CAIRO, MARCH 17, 2018 - Trade and Industry Minister Tarek Qabil said Saturday that relations between Egypt and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had made major strides in the past few years, especially at the economic and commercial fronts. This progress, he said, was most noticeable at the level of trade exchange between the two friendly countries. At the inaugural session of the Egyptian-UAE Business Forum, which kicked off earlier in the day in Cairo, he said that the UAE is now the world's number 1 importer of Egyptian goods. In 2017, the minister said, Egyptian exports to the UAE amounted to $2.5 billion. He said trade exchange between the two states grow by 20 per cent in the last three years. He added that in 2017, the UAE invested $6.2 billion in Egypt, becoming the largest investor in the country for that year. Qabil described relations between Egypt and the UAE as a model that can be emulated in relations between Arab countries. Inaugurating the forum with the Egyptian minister was UAE Economy Minister Sultan bin Saeed al-Mansouri. Organized by the General Federation for Egyptian Chambers of Commerce, the forum is held under the theme of "Egypt and Emirates: From Bilateral to Regional Co-operation". Many UAE investors are attending the forum along with a host of Egyptian company heads and executives. Qabil said that continual co-ordination between the two countries' officials was a cornerstone of for pushing bilateral relations forward. He underscored the role that could be played by the private sector and the business community in the two countries in this regard. The Egyptian government, he said, is working tirelessly to improve economic conditions and make the investment climate more attractive to local and foreign capital owners. He added that this work would contribute to encouraging UAE companies to pour more investments into Egypt. Meanwhile, the Chairman of the General Federation for Egyptian Chambers of Commerce, Ahmed el-Wakil, said that Egyptian investments in the UAE witnessed a steady growth in the last three years as well. Egyptian investments in the UAE now amount to $826 million, not to mention other huge Egyptian investments in the real estate sector there. He added at a roundtable discussion on the sidelines of the forum that trade exchange between Egypt and the UAE in the field of goods amounted to $3.2 billion in 2017. The value of the services trade between the two countries, he said, is much higher. El-Wakil added that 868 UAE companies worked in Egypt, while UAE nationals invest billions of dollars in the Egyptian real estate sector as well.
