CAIRO – Egyptian Minister of Trade and Industry Ahmed Samir Monday asserted the ministry’s keenness to expand frameworks of joint economic co-operation with the European Union countries.
During a meeting with member of the European Parliament for the European People’s Party Antonio Lopez Asturiz, they tackled ways to develop joint relations at the bilateral and multilateral levels between Egypt and the European Union and reviewed the latest developments in the global economic situation.
The meeting was attended by Tareq Radwan, the Head of the Human Rights Committee in the House of Representatives.
The Egyptian state is keen to expand the frameworks of joint economic co-operation with the EU countries which are Egypt’s key trading partners at the regional and global levels, he said, noting that the volume of trade between Egypt and the European Union reached some $29.6 billion last year, compared to $23.8 billion in 2020, achieving an increase of 24.5%.
He pointed out that the European Union is the second largest receiving market of Egyptian exports globally, adding that the Egyptian government is keen to transfer advanced European industrial technologies to the Egyptian industry, attract more European investments to the Egyptian market, and benefit from the large size of the Egyptian market and the network of preferential free trade agreements signed with a large number of countries and blocs.
Asturiz stressed the Parliament’s keenness to expand the frameworks of joint cooperation with the government and parliaments in Egypt in all topics and files of common interest, within the framework of directions of strengthening the European Neighborhood Policy. Egypt is one of the main destinations for providing gas to the countries of the European continent, as part of its efforts to diversify gas sources during the current stage, he said.
He pointed to the EU’s appreciation of the pivotal role of the Egyptian state at various levels as being one of the main countries in the Middle East and southern Mediterranean region. The European Parliament is keen to activate the role of parliamentary diplomacy in opening direct channels of communication with Egypt to promote dialogue on all issues and files of common interest, he added.
