More Turkish-Egyptian economic cooperation in the offing? Trade Minister Ahmed Samir met with his Turkish counterpart Ömer Bolat to discuss promoting bilateral trade and investment, a Trade Ministry statement said yesterday. The two agreed to work to reduce barriers to agricultural trade and to tackle other, unspecified obstacles to trade and investment. The also agreed Cairo and Ankara will look into local currency-denominated trade and opening banks in each other’s country. The Trade Ministry also made reference to the possibility of opening a roll-on, roll-off freight line between the two nations.

REMEMBER- Egypt wants to boost trade volumes with Turkey by 50% to USD 15 bn in the next five years, the Trade Minister said in August. There were also rumors from local media last week that Egypt and Turkey will likely finalize an agreement to use local currencies for bilateral trade in 2024. This economic and political rapprochement comes only months after the two countries restored diplomatic ties and reappointed ambassadors in July, bringing to an end a decade of tensions.

Tags: