The council plays a pivotal role in developing
economic, commercial and investment cooperation between Egypt and the UAE
during the next period, Gamea said.
Cairo-
November 16, 2020
Minister of Trade and Industry
Nevine Gamea and UAE Minister of Economy Abdulla Bin Touq Al Marri, co-chaired
today the inaugural meeting of the Egyptian-Emirati Joint Business Council, in
the presence of UAE Minister of State for Entrepreneurship and Small and Medium
Enterprises Ahmed Belhoul Al Falasi, and Minister of State for Foreign Trade
Thani Bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi.
“The council plays a pivotal role in
developing economic cooperation between Egypt and
the UAE during the next period,” Gamea said.
She noted that trade relations
between the two countries is a model to be followed, pointing out that the UAE
market is the primary destination for Egyptian exports, receiving about 11% annually
of the country’s total shipments abroad.
Gamea added that UAE’s
investments in the Egyptian market exceed $7 billion, with additional memoranda
of understanding worth more than $7 billion, so that it ranks first among foreign
investor in the local market.
The minister stressed the
importance of the joint council in defining the challenges that companies may
face in the two countries and in putting forward proposals for overcoming
potential obstacles to the ministers concerned in
both countries.
Al-Marri, for his part, said that
the UAE is Egypt’s second Arab and ninth global trading partner, while Egypt is
the sixth largest Arab trading partner of the UAE. Non-oil trade between the
two countries hit about $6 billion in 2019, up 9.6% from a year earlier.