Minister of Trade and Industry Tarek Kabil said on Friday that Britain brings the largest foreign investments to Egypt, bringing in $5.6bn through 1,450 companies.
Kabil met with British Ambassador to Egypt John Cassen and the two discussed achieving more balanced trade between theeir countries, especially as it became largely in favor of Britain.
Bilateral British-Egyptian trade scored £1.8m in 2016. Egyptian imports from Britain reached about £1.2bn, while Egyptian exports amounted to only £656m, which led to a deficit of about £564m, Kabil said.
He added that his ministry is currently studying the repercussions of Britain’s exit from the European Union (EU), which will come into effect in March 2018, especially on joint trade relations in line with the free trade agreement concluded in the Egyptian-European partnership agreement, which links Egypt with all EU member states.
Kabil has invited British Trade Minister Liam Fox to visit Egypt, early next year, for further coordination and consultation on the future of economic relations between the two countries.
Cassen stressed that Britain is interested in promoting joint economic cooperation with Egypt, being one of the most important economic partners of the United Kingdom in the Middle East and Africa.
He wen on to say that Britain should coordinate with the Egyptian government to study the future of bilateral relations.
The British government has set up a team of economic and business affairs experts to tackle the new form of trade relations between both countries, to ensure the flow and intra-regional trade and investment.
