CAIRO, July 31, 2018 (MENA) - Trade and Industry Minister Amr Nassar had a plenary meeting with British Trade Envoy to Egypt Jeffrey Donaldson on the future of economic ties between the two countries after Brexit. The meeting was attended by UK Ambassador in Cairo John Casson, Advisor to the Trade and Industry Minister for International Relations Magda Shaheen and Head of the Commercial Representation Authority Ahmed Antar. Nassar said there are vast investment opportunities in Egypt in the field of medium and large-scale enterprises, underlining the possibility of benefiting from the Egyptian market as a gateway to UK exports. The Trade Ministry's plan focuses on beefing up Egypt's exports to East African countries, which are members of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), Nassar said. There is a great opportunity for increasing Egyptian exports to Syria and Iraq, particularly in light of ongoing reconstruction projects there, the minister said. Egypt seeks to attract more FDIs (foreign direct investment) to labour-intensive sectors including industry and services, Nassar said, stressing the importance of negotiations between the Egyptian and British governments on the liberalisation of trade in services. As for trade exchange between Egypt and UK, it recorded $1.329 billion in the first half of 2018, Nassar said. UK also invested nearly $5.6 billion in 1,450 projects in Egypt, the minister noted. For his part, the UK envoy said that his visit to Egypt aims at promoting strategic relations between the two countries in the trade and investment fields and setting up the stage for the British exit from the European Union, known as Brexit.
