The meeting
discussed transferring Italy’s advanced industrial technologies to the Egyptian
industry, as well as cooperation in date production.
Cairo- Dec 10,
2021
Minister
of Trade and Industry Nevine Gamea has met with Michael Caron, the new Italian
ambassador in Cairo, to discuss means to further deepen economic cooperation
between the two countries during the next period.
The meeting
discussed transferring Italy’s advanced industrial technologies to the Egyptian
industry, as well as cooperation in date production, especially since Egypt is
the world’s largest date producer.
“Egyptian-Italian
ties have flourished over the past years in various economic fields, Italy being
one of Egypt's key strategic partners in the European Union,” Gamea said.
She
pointed out that one of the most prominent cooperation projects with Italy is the
Robbiki Leather City, with an Italian funding of €6 million within the
technical assistance program signed between the two governments.
Caron,
for his part, expressed his country’s keenness to strengthen relations with
Egypt, one of its key partners in the region, pointing out that the second
phase of technical assistance provided by the Italian government amounts to €3
million and is directed to cooperation projects in the fields of leather in Robbiki,
furniture in Damietta city and marble in Atfih.
According
to official figures, Egypt-Italy trade hit €3.657 billion during the first eight
months of the year, up 43% from €2.557 billion during the same period in 2020. Egyptian
exports to the Italian market grew 15.8% to €1.215 billion, compared to €1.49
billion a year earlier.
Italian
investments in Egypt stand at $2.7 billion, in 1,200 companies operating in the
fields of industry, agriculture, tourism, construction, information technology and
financial services.