On the sidelines of the forum, the two trade minsiters met to discuss bilateral ties and signed an MoU as well.
Cairo- Feb 23, 2022
Egypt-Hungary Business Forum opened
today with the participation of Egyptian Minister of Trade and Industry Nevine
Gamea and Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó, as
well as 58 Hungarian companies and representatives of the Egyptian private
sector.
“Egypt and Hungary have always enjoyed
strategic bilateral ties and a long history of mutual cooperation at all
political, diplomatic and economic levels,” Gamea said in her speech.
She also highlighted the importance
of Hungary as a key partner of Egypt, especially being a member state of the Visegrád Group,
pointing to the initiative announced during the visit of President
Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to Budapest in 2017 to establish an industrial zone for the
Group in Egypt to be a hub for its exports to African and Arab markets.
“There are ample opportunities for
Hungarian investments in the local market, especially in engineering
industries, autos, home appliances, heavy transport, steel, ready-made clothes,
leather, chemicals, IT, pharmaceuticals and agricultural tractors,” the
minister noted.
The European Union, she added,
ranked first among Egypt’s top export markets in 2021, with a value of $9
billion, up 56% from $6 billion a year earlier. Egypt-Hungary trade amounted to
$417 million and Egyptian exports to Hungary registered $93 million in the same
year.
On the sidelines of the forum,
Gamea met with her Hungarian counterpart, to discuss means of boosting
bilateral trade, especially that the Hungarian Export-Import Bank currently offers
financing programs worth $120 million to support cooperation between Hungarian
companies and their Egyptian counterparts in various fields.
The two ministers, furthermore,
signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish a joint committee for
trade and industry, responsible for identifying and recommending measures related
to expanding bilateral ties, addressing obstacles to trade and industry, as
well as assisting the private sector in both countries to establish joint commercial
and industrial projects.