(Photo courtesy of Ministry of Transportation)
The Egyptian government; decided not to renew the RO-RO agreement that it had with the Turkish government. The agreement involved the arrival of trucks filled with Turkish goods to the Egyptian ports in the Mediterranean sea, then secure those goods when they’re being transferred by land across Egypt to the red sea ports, and then they get shipped through a Turkish ferry to the ports of Gulf Arab countries.
The government made a decision not to renew the agreement with turkey after it ends in April 2015. This was after a meeting that involved all the concerned parties to this agreement, which included representatives from the Ministry of foreign affairs who will be informing the Turkish government of the decision of non-renewal. Egyptian ports raised profits from the RO-RO line reached $4.8m; said Ahmed Amin, Transport Minister for Maritime Transport Sector Advisor
The Turkish government’s announced antagonism against Egypt and the declarations made by its officials against the Egyptian political leadership were the main reasons behind the ministry’s decision of not renewing the contract in March 2015; Said Mustafa Ibrahim, a member of the Egyptian-Turkish business council. Indicating that Cairo didn’t do anything except condemning Ankara’s “irresponsible” remarks against Egypt, and that they committed to full restraint towards the Turkish side.
$4.2b was the size of trade exchange between Egypt and turkey by the end of last year, where Turkish exports to Egypt reached about $3.9b. Showing that more benefit from this trade was gained by turkey. Egypt mainly imported from turkey products as cement, rebar, automobiles, textiles and electrical goods.
Hani Dahi the minister of transportation told the CBC that an amount that didn’t exceed $ 13m was spent on transportation fees since it began 3 years ago.
Mounir fakhry abdel nour added to CBC that the decision was made for political and security reasons and that Egypt is now looking for an alternative line to establish with another country; refusing to say anymore comments on that matter.
The RO-RO agreement was established in 2012, during Mohamed Morsi’s regime to help transport Egyptian exports to east Europe and for Turkish exports to pass through Egypt to Gulf Arab countries.
